If I decide to master a particular field of knowledge, what must I do? For example, suppose I decide to become a doctor. I go out, buy an anatomy textbook, read it, try to memorize some terms, and carefully examine the pictures. Now I am already an expert—or at least this is better than nothing. I can consider myself a doctor. To become a professor of medicine, I need only read a couple more books about the structure of certain organs, memorize all the definitions, and then I can teach others. Practical experience will eventually show me what is located where in the human body. And thanks to YouTube, I can also see everything in real life, start my own channel, and share my knowledge with others.
In this way, anything useful and necessary can be learned, as long as there is a desire.
I think this approach brought a smile to your face. In one word: an amateur.
But when I approach the field of love and friendship with the same attitude, for some reason I begin considering myself someone special and my knowledge in this area to be advanced mathematics. I enjoy hearing people call me a teacher, but I assume the appearance of a humble person and ask them not to call me that, while inwardly agreeing that this is exactly what I am. Yet if all my knowledge is considered, in God’s eyes I look like a three-year-old child who has managed to learn a few things but imagines that he knows everything. Of course, such behavior in children does not irritate their parents. Instead, it brings a tender smile to their faces because they know how far their children still have to grow. The parents gently lift their children into their arms, assure them of their love, and tell them that they are the very best.
Of course, the conditions under which we learn differ from a child’s growth. We are in a real war in which souls are perishing all around us, and our lives are in constant mortal danger. But thanks to God’s protection and the continual ministry of Angels, we are still alive and have peace in our hearts.
When I gain a friend, what do I desire to discover in him? Who is my friend to me? If this is the person with whom I intend to create a family, what should I know about him? It is very important to understand who my friend or life companion truly is because my attitude toward that person depends upon it.
Consider the example of a family. If I am attracted only to my wife’s body, then once it belongs to me, it will please my flesh and bring enjoyment to my senses, and this attitude will dominate. In return for this gift, I will earn money to invest in the source of my sensual pleasure, decorating it with clothing, cosmetics, and garlands. But this is a human being, not a Christmas tree. This body also has a soul that needs to be discovered and longs to be valued. To study that soul, I must change my priorities.
If I decide to discover a master chef in my wife as well, my knowledge in this area will increase noticeably. I will marvel at the wonders of her cooking and praise her for this work. But eventually, I will understand that the cook has a soul that languishes with the desire to be discovered and understood. I decide to know her as the mother of our children. Oh, how many new things await me, and how much happiness these little people bring into the home! But they also have souls that long to be explored and personally known. Meanwhile, my wife has grown weary in the routines of daily life as a body, a cook, and a caregiver. Her heart longs for something more. It desires to open, but it can do so only in response to my request and interest. If I have stopped growing in this knowledge, family conflicts and criticism begin. All the unused inner potential is spent on resolving family problems. Against this background, my wife’s body is aging, while so many beautiful, smiling bodies appear all around me that the temptation to choose one of them becomes very strong.
I choose faithfulness and decide to discover the creative person within my wife. How many new things I have learned about her! And this is only the beginning. I begin wondering who stands before me. Is she a woman, a mother, a cook, a database, a decorated house, a city with its own attractions, or an entire planet longing for new discoveries? Who is this friend of mine to me? And who am I to my wife? Am I a body, a taxi driver, an ATM, a mover, or a handyman? I also have a soul that longs to open. The limitless potential of an entire planet that remains to be explored has also been placed within me. Yet I do not even know who I am. I serve as a floor mat upon which feet are wiped and as a means of life support. Life passes, and we race through it. As we lose one another along the way, we begin to understand how little we came to know each other and how little we allowed ourselves to be known.
If I have gained a friend, who is he to me? How should I perceive him? My interest in him will develop within the boundaries of communication that I establish for him and for myself. Yet it is possible to go further.
To help me answer all these difficult questions, I am offered love. Love knows how to open the surface of a person’s soul and find the valuable minerals and inexhaustible resources hidden in the depths of the heart. I discover a new microcosmic world of my friend’s possibilities and marvel at the discoveries within his personality. I am captivated by this world of boundless possibilities and by the way love finds new and fascinating treasures of the soul and presents them in their true light.
God created us for one another as undiscovered planets so that through love for one another, we may rejoice in new discoveries and achievements. Love makes all of this real and beautiful. Only Eternity will be able to contain the fullness of our endless revelations about one another. After many, many millions of years, I may be able to say about one of my friends that I know him even as I am known. Yet all these revelations will resemble playing in a sandbox compared with the true knowledge of God. Throughout endless Eternity, He will reveal Himself to us in the fullness of His love and beauty, unveiling the remarkable mysteries of His Soul, which I have already begun to know by faith while living on a sinful Earth in a mortal body.
All of this has been placed within each of us. At times, without realizing it, we look for someone who will begin uncovering it, drawing it out, and admiring what he discovers. Even if someone finds only a little house with decorative flourishes within me, I still rejoice that in at least this form, I have become interesting to someone. The prospect of being a taxi driver and an ATM for life does not bring much joy to the soul.
But who will discover a planet within me? I know that there is such a Friend. His Name is Jesus. I come to Him and open my soul wide before Him so that I may be known. He explores my heart with interest and amazes me with what He finds. I had never imagined that I could possess such potential for different abilities and useful qualities.
Yet undiscovered planets also surround me everywhere, concealing so many fascinating things within themselves. Only my love can find and uncover them. How wonderfully we have been created! What a beautiful commandment of love has been given to us! We can find new galaxies and explore one another endlessly without ever reaching the fullness of knowledge and discovery. Yes, we certainly cannot do without Eternity here! Eternity is worth entering and living in.
God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, the holy Angels, my holy friends, and I form a very good team for eternal discoveries and achievements.
Bible Verses for Reflection
Jeremiah 33:3; 32:27, 39–40; 15:19; Proverbs 11:25; 2:4–5; 1 John 3:1–3; Psalm 139:23; 1 Corinthians 13:12; Romans 15:14; James 1:22.