Since the middle of June, my new job has consumed my energy and focus for more than forty hours each week. But to relax in the evenings, and for a few hours on weekends, I have escaped into a few novels, not ones I’d ordinarily have chosen. I blame my two grown daughters who became enamored by Edward, an unorthodox kind of hero in Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series. Because their enthusiasm convinced me this love story about vampires and werewolves might be worth reading, I took the plunge. It went against my better judgment, spiritually speaking, but I had to find out what all the fuss was about. Why were so many women, including friends my age, so taken up and enamored by this tale? What did the author hit on that caused a fury in book sales and a series of movies that filmmakers speedily cranked out to meet her readers’ appetite for more?
I see it now. Edward is in love with Isabella and is selfless in his love. He is so supernaturally strong that he could crush her by his love for her. He wants her more than his own life and wellbeing. He is old-fashioned and pure when it comes to morals, even though he’s a vampire. Not your run-of-the-mill fiend, he denies himself all human blood even though it is what he craves. And she becomes his victim in that she can’t resist him, and all he is. Once she’s experienced his closeness, she can’t live without him and be whole. He’s affected her that way. She’s addicted to the drug of his presence, and the more she has of him, the more she wants.
Oh, dear, I believe God can use the most surprising ways to sneak up on us to give us a glimpse of his kind of love. I doubt Ms. Meyers realized she was writing an allegory about God’s everlasting, selfless love—about His character. Our hearts and souls are designed for that kind of love—the love that sacrifices one’s own desires for that of the other.
We go to work and do what we need to do to survive—to be able to pay our bills. We find ourselves in a world that is opposed to what our heart wants most, because we were made for eternity and spiritual fulfillment. Our hearts want so much more—we want to experience the romance we were created for—and so we have books, movies, and our imaginations to take us there. Well, I sat for a long while this morning talking to the Lord about Edward. I believe He told me something quite beautiful. “Every day, I am patiently waiting for you to ‘wake up’, just like Edward waited for Bella. Sometimes you sleep for a few hours, sometimes for months, and even for years.” He’s always with us, waiting. We just need to realize it. Like Edward, he doesn’t sleep, but watches us. He waits for us. He protects us. He cares only about our happiness.
I know it is unseemly to write about vampires and werewolves—about a secular and worldly book series on a blog about God’s love. Well, I believe God sneaks up on unsuspecting souls to give them a glimpse of what we’ve been made for: His love and the gift of Himself.