A LOVE SO BEAUTIFUL.

I grew up at a time when Mexican and Philipine telenovelas were the thing in town. It was an era when two or three families, mostly women and children, would gather in one neighbour's house, usually the one with a television, to immerse themselves in the messy love lifes of Alejandro and Miguel😉. Those were also the days when many a dinner was ruined because a mother or house help became so engrossed in the unfolding drama that she forgot the food simmering on the stove😫.

Growing up as a child wholly devoted to these dramas was not without consequence. First, I lost my good eyesight from sitting far too close to the television(so I could get the story wa kwanza😂). Second, I inherited a distorted view of love and relationships.

I carried visions of romance so detached from reality that the only place they could truly exist was on a television screen. But immature as I was, how was I to know that ground vitu ni different? I proudly nurtured these ideas with the kind of devotion that only a fool is capable of. 

Then came my teenage years, and I graduated to love songs and romance novels, another world overflowing with soulful melodies yet often burdened with unrealistic portrayals of love among mortals. The collision of these worlds within my heart turned it into an ecotone of dystopian realities, a place where fantasy and looming disappointment met and intertwined. But then, young and inexperienced as I was in the true nature of life, how could I have known?

So I carried these dreams into my early twenties, fervently watching and waiting for when my turn for "a love so beautiful in every way" as my favourite musician sang, would come. Never mind that the relationships I witnessed around me bore little resemblance to my grand visions. A girl is allowed to dream, I would tell myself. And dream I did... 

Yet beneath those dreams lingered a gnawing question:

Does a love so beautiful truly exist among mortals?

As I peered behind the glamorous lives of my favourite actors and musicians, discovering broken marriages, shattered relationships, and scandalous affairs, part of my heart began to doubt the existence of perfect love. But another part, the larger part stubbornly refused to let go of the hope that somewhere, somehow, such love existed.

But where was it to be found?

So I turned to God.

Time and again I asked Him to bless me with the most beautiful love story. The kind of love that stretched beyond time into eternity. The kind that would consume whilst completing me. A perfect love that would sate the hunger that was invoked in me. Just as the singer asked, "What is the colour of love?" I wanted to experience its colour, its texture, its fragrance, every shade and nuance.

God answered.

Only not in the way I expected.

I imagined He would send me a dashing viking from Valhalla who would sweep my African feet into the land of the Norse gods. Ah, my imaginations were of double measure proportions 😂😂. But blessed be the Lord who forgives the sins of our youth. Instead, He graciously allowed me to taste the pain and bitterness of broken love through men.

One by one, my dystopian dreams of human love were shattered. And while the ring of divine Light continued to surround me, the idols in my heart continued to fall... And great was the fall thereof. But one thing did not fall or die.

He never allowed my belief in perfect love to die.

Death and life made their dwelling within my heart, and for a long time, I wrestled with this strange reality. Until one day, the Lord, in His mercy, opened the eyes of my understanding.

And then...  I met Perfect Love.

Not merely as an idea, nor as a dream, but as a Person. And a mystery begun to unfold within me. The more it unfolded, the deeper I was drawn into its wonder. The more I considered it, the more my heart would exult in praise and thanksgiving.

Finally, I was standing in the midst of a love so beautiful in every way.

To be continued...