The power of love…
Love, so many people use your name in vain…
If you didn’t clock already, the two lines above are lyrics.
So, I recently started watching The Crown (I know I’m a bit late to the party) and I love it. One thing the show has made me realise is that love is powerful. As in, the things people do for love…
For example, Princess Margaret (the late Queen Elizabeth’s sister) was in love with Henry Townsend, a man who worked closely with the royal family. I’m sorry but there was a 16-year age gap between them which I didn’t even realise until I did research for this blog. Weird.
Anyway, this man had a wife, yet was in love with Princess Margaret. He later divorced his wife and proposed to Margaret, but she couldn’t get married to him as he was a commoner and a divorcee. In The Crown, she had to wait till she was 25 because then she wouldn’t need to ask permission from the Queen to marry. This is exactly what she did. She waited. Or in her eyes, likely endured those 2 years. Those 2 years she was actually separated from Henry as well, because they sent him to work in Brussels.
Reminds me a bit of Rachel and Jacob in the Bible. Jacob worked 7 years to get Rachel as his wife, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her (Genesis 29:20).
Only, in Margaret’s case, after the 2 years, she sadly realised she couldn’t marry Henry because of one silly law or regulation. Nah. Bye. Imagine waiting 2 years to marry the person you love, only to find out you can’t get married.
Sacrificing for love
I don’t know if I’m the only one who didn’t know this: but Queen Elizabeth technically wasn’t meant to be Queen. The only reason she became Queen is because her uncle, Edward VIII abdicated the crown, thus resulting in her dad George VI becoming King.
So imagine, Edward, who was king at the time, had fallen in love with a lady called Wallis Simpson. This lady had already divorced her first husband and was trying to divorce her second husband at the time Edward proposed. Obviously, this caused an uproar because as King, you are Head of the Church, and them man don’t play with divorce and remarriage after divorce if the former partner is still alive.
Now when I say love is powerful, listen.
This man was the King of the United Kingdom.
Deep it. He was actually a real King.
When he realised he couldn’t marry Wallis as King, he abdicated.
In a radio broadcast with the BBC, he said ‘I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge my duties as king as I would wish to do without the help and support of the woman I love’.
Guys, he wasn’t even King for a full year! He reigned 326 days then abdicated because of love?!
Love is too powerful
I still can’t believe it. This man literally gave up his royal title because of love.
Do you know what I find quite sad: they never even had kids. They didn’t even get to continue their family line.
If I was Wallis, I would feel so guilty ngl. Even in the Crown, you can see that yes Edward loved Wallis, but you could tell he’s bored with his life. He wants more.
Omds even Harry and Meghan. Harry knew he had to remove himself from the royal family in order to protect his wife because he loves her so much, and he doesn’t want anything bad to happen to her.
It just made me deep how powerful an emotion/action/verb love is. It’s actually a lot.
The power of love
All this talk about love, how can I not mention God’s love for us.
God loved us so much that He sent His son to die for us (John 3:16).
It was because of love.
The power of love…
Love is powerful, but you can’t just fall in love with anyone. You need wisdom.
Love can lead people to do crazy things. In this case, I’m speaking about romantic love in particular. I’m sure we’ve all heard mad stories on the TL about the things that both men and women have done out of love (or toxic love should I say) for their partner.
Rebuking that spirit of fear
When you see how powerful love is, it can easily make one scared. One is me.
It’s like people lose their minds or are blind-sighted when it comes to love. It’s intense.
I don’t want that to make me scared to fall in love though.
I have to daily remind myself that God has not given me a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7)
I don’t want my fear of love to hinder or delay me from finding my person.
Love is such a complex topic.
I could go on for days, pero let me just stop here.
Resources
Blogs
For more on all these love:
#7 – What does it really mean to love someone?
#17 – Valentine’s Day Special and reminiscing
Songs
James Arthur’s version of this song is my fave:
