All's Fair In Love and War

I hate that statement. Now hate is a very strong emotion for such a statement, and it comes from the overthinking I do. You see, Love and War are two words that encompass a wide range of emotions, actions, reasons, and events, and so by some definitions they happen everywhere, all the time, to one extent or another. Thus the idea of things being "fair" when done under their umbrella seems to be just a very cheap way of justifying the means to whatever end.

But I am not writing about this statement, nor about Love or War in and of themselves. I wish to follow some stray thoughts about being in love with life, and being at war with life. In the end it probably comes down to pessimism and optimism, but I would prefer to follow this trail of thoughts down into the gulch and back up, rather than jump the gorge in a single leap. Life is more interesting that way, it seems.

Allow me to clarify that when I say life, I do not say the world. As a Christian, I most certainly am at war with the world, and I have been commanded not to love the things of this world, as I am not of the world, etc, etc. In this context the world refers to the realm of sin. God is not saying you can't love your new puppy, or the sunset, or the taste of watermelon. He created those things! But that is a blog for another time. Here, I am talking about life, as in, living on this planet, going about our daily activities. It is not my intention to argue anything, but rather explore the phenomenon that seems to exist, in that Christians can be both in love with life, and at war with life. Perhaps one is better than the other. Perhaps both can exist simultaneously.

If I were to place myself under one of these ideas, I would have to say that I am at war with life. I strain against it every day. I am a malcontent. I am not at war in spite of the fact that I am a Christian, I am at war because I am a Christian. Had I nothing better in site than life itself, I would have no reason to push against it, but because I catch glimpses of what could be and will be in the perfect life awaiting me when this one is long gone, I struggle here. Sometimes I am in love with life, for brief moments, but the overall tone of my life is one at war.

Now, there is evidence that I have seen with my own eyes of Christians who are the opposite of this. They are in love with life. They are filled with joy. Certainly at moments they must be at war, but the overall tone here is love. They look for and see the beauty in everything and are excited by it. They are often content. I look at these people and wonder why I cannot be more like them? The Bible says we are to be filled with joy and content. These people seem to be at peace, while I am stuck in the midst of battle.

I had always assumed the latter was better, but I had no way of getting there myself. After further thought I begin to think a mixture would be the better way. After all, I do not look at life with the intent of dissension or violence. My war is the striving to survive while I wait for what is better. But still, I find myself thinking, joy in waiting is more Biblical. What a wretch I am.

Eventually I condensed these thoughts down into two points of view. The person in love with life approaches in love. An optimist. The person at war approaches in war. A pessimist. But even this seemed wrong to me. Yes, I am definitely the person at war, but I do not consider myself a pessimist. My friends count me as the optimist! But I do not look at life in love. I look at it through calculating eyes, weighing and measuring everything in order to find its exact value. If something is not worth wailing about, I take the optimistic approach, but I do not do it out of love. I do it because a strategy says there is benefit in doing it this way. I am not trying to conquer life, or any such nonsense. Merely survive it. Guerrilla warfare.

I apologize for the disjointed rendering of these thoughts. I regret that I cannot speak more on the subject of being in love with life. I have little experience there. Perhaps someone who knows themselves to come from that direction will answer these thoughts with some of their own. I would be very interested in reading them.

Which is better? Is one better? And how do we get there? Go away and think! I must go look to my weapons, for the life around me appears to be mutating. And we don't want that now do we?