The Duggars' Hard Saying for Many: Love as Self-Gift

Fever-stricken today. Thus, I got to thinking--what else am I going to do? In dialoguing with young folks about the nature of love and living generously in society, I notice that there seems to be this mental road block, an error in thought, that suggests that a person who continually gives will be eventually exhausted. This is evidenced by the reaction of so many folks to the Duggars' joyful announcement. Now, I have a tenth of the progeny that the Duggars have been blessed with, but I am not at all troubled by their joy, for at the arrival of my second child, I had no less love for the first than before, no less whatsoever! I would imagine this phenomenon continues into the 20s and beyond.

Then I realized today while thinking that love is kind of like this (probably unoriginal thought):

Love is like a flame, which burns for a little while. In giving itself to another source, it spreads its own nature without losing any of itself. The oil of divine grace sustains its life while it shines. In fact, the only way for the flame to be destroyed is not to share of itself. Then the flame will consume its source until there is nothing left, at which point the wick remains utterly exhausted and desolate, and cools in a short time, being rendered incapable of sustaining flame again.

It is no wonder, then, that God is love. God is immutable, incapable of change, incapable of losing his power or his being, yet is the source of all being and is giving-of-himself by his very essence. Yet he is not one spark diminished!

In my home, there are four flames, in the Duggars', 22. We would not be lacking in love at the arrival of another--on the contrary, the more flames, the more light

The same goes for society. We can share the flame and light all the lamps there are to light, or we can keep our individual flames to ourselves. This is what it means to live charity in truth, to love all as Christ loves. For he said, "I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled!" (Lk 12:49