shadows and love.

I've been preparing for my Sunday School class this week. For the month of July, we've discussed the topic of LOVE, something that has been on my heart as I realize how little I understand it. God's love is so specific, yet vague. I find myself in a constant battle of now I understand it, now I don't. Most of the time, of course, I don't. 

Nevertheless I've been trying to talk about it and explain it as if I do understand. I'm not really sure why I do that. 

So as I was thinking about it and reading First Corinthians 13 for the thousandth time to try and understand love, I read this verse:

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face t0 face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. I Corinthians 13:12

My first thought was of a really dirty mirror, but I don't think I've been around many mirrors that were so dirty that the reflection was nearly indistinguishable, so that didn't make sense. So what other kinds of reflections are there?

Shadows! 

A shadow, as you know, is an image of someone. It's them, but not, but still them. You understand what I mean because you've seen a shadow. Love is the same way, I think. It's something we recognize, something we talk about and something easily understood as love, but we have yet to see what love REALLY is. We don't understand it fully because what we see is just a shadow. 

If you consider that, then love must really be something special. Something amazingly special and wonderful. Because it seems to be that already, but yet it's so vague and hard to understand. Can you imagine what love, real LOVE looks like if what we have is just the reflection? 

We have the outline, a glimpse of what the real thing is. We've yet to see the face of God but we see the shadow of His love. Isn't it wonderful?