The Wonder of Vulnerability

I was driving down 45th Street the other day thinking about the people I care about. Not just the people I naturally care about but the ones I choose to care about. Not just the people I care about in general but the amount of which I choose to care. And, I was marvelling at the close connection of love and vulnerability. For each person in your life that you care about there is a natural baseline of love. You care about the person, which brings about a certain amount of vulnerability. However, what is amazing is that we generally can choose the amount of love and vulnerability we give. For example, I am an aunt and I naturally love my niece--it's human nature. However, the amount of love I give to her and the level of vulnerability in my heart I allow is my choice. I can choose to be an uninvolved, love her at the natural baseline kind of aunt OR I can choose to be as involved in her life as possible--which opens my heart to more love and vulnerability. Vulnerability-the risk of hurt for the sake of love. That's my definition. But what astounds me even more is the love we have for our friends or others in our lives. Family stirs a natural kind of baseline love that we choose to expound on or not to expound on. But friends? We are to love all people. Which offers a baseline of love for humanity and God's creation. However, once again, one can choose to increase love exponentially or leave it as is. It is amazing to me when we choose to open our hearts to love and vulnerability with people outside of our families when there is really nothing to be gained but the love of the other person, which is often accompanied by hurt because of the level of vulnerability that comes, inevitably, with love. It's such an amazing concept! I can hardly put it into words! I mean, what a priviledge for someone to choose to trust you with their heart--whether it be family, friends, or other. If there is ever anything a person guards about himself, it is his heart. And yet, when we open our hearts to loving others and expounding our love for others, the guard is let down. Sometimes there is hurt and it is painful. And this may sound naive or utopian but, truly, love is worth it all. I guess that's what they mean by "love hurts"--in every form--Agape, Phileo, and Eros.