A few nights ago I was reading poetry with a very special lady friend of mine when she showed me a short story written by the 19th century Irish poet Oscar Wilde entitled The Nightingale and The Rose. There are many themes the reader can identify within this beautifully crafted narrative, but as I read it there was a very specific part that really tugged on my spirit.
As the reader nears the middle of the story, there is a line of dialogue where the tree that is talking to the nightingale explains that in order for the best rose to grow it requires the nightingale's lifeblood. True love is made perfect by death.
This last part really hit me hard. I thought of how beautiful and sad this is, that true love means not just having the willingness to possibly sacrifice passionately and selflessly, but true love cannot even be true without the constant spirit of selfless, and at many times painful, sacrifice.
I don't know why but I guess I feel that maybe this is something you might want to look at too.
"Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends" - Jesus (John 15:13 esv).
Click here to view Oscar Wilde's The Nightingale and the Rose
1 comment:
You have a great point. Maybe that's why we're so drawn to stories such as Romeo and Juliet? Because we understand that's what TRUE love is all about...good thoughts, Luke!
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