If loving you is wrong, I don’t want to be right!

By Marvie Marchbanks, guest columnist

If loving you is considered wrong, why does it seem acceptable to my heart? So many of us have experienced the moment in time when emotional passions outshine our most noble reason. Love is complex and courageous, often misconstrued as a fleeting spirit of infatuation or 50 shades of gray.
True love is much more vivid. True love is good for the heart and the mentally mature. Love is layered with old and new discoveries of what we objectify and who we choose to share our lives with.
Friendship cards, intimate letters, diamonds and rubies have been cut because of love. Aphrodisiacs put in boxes filled with chocolates and the sweetness of fruit have been the elixir of the ages.
The aroma of pleasant and seductive perfume has been the unforgettable threshold of new beginnings. Love makes us do some crazy, amazing things. Engagements, marriages, families and children have been born out of love.
If loving you is wrong, I don’t want to be right keeps coming to mind.
Some of you may think I’m talking about an illicit love affair. For others, it may be that which is morally and ethically correct.  
When I am challenged at the core to further extend the cords of love, I often consider my chance to love individuals relentlessly very important despite any shame. I believe it’s the Christian thing to do. To have agape (unconditional), eros (romantic), philia (friendship) and storge (familial) love is to be complete and without law.
Love could show up in the heart of anybody at any given time. It’s like an intangible endless currency given and exchanged by reciprocation of the same. It could be friends, family or foes that make us stand up for the cause of love.  
We love our children despite them being disobedient to what we’ve taught them. We love our friends even when loyalty seems to have moved on to someone else’s address. We love our sweethearts and spouses during and after infidelities. We love with and without the reciprocation of truth, passion and commitment.
Lastly, we find ourselves loving our enemy even when we think and feel finessed, misused, abused and made spectacle by our own love for humanity. I appeal to anyone who feels that loving despite being wronged is beyond good reason.
Don’t lose hope when love is not reciprocated.
Keep making deposits in the name of love. Jesus said in Matthew 5:43-48, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
A few weeks ago, I was at the supermarket standing in line to be checked out, when a price check resulted in me not being able to receive a discount. The cashier said, “I’m sorry, but I will love you the right way!”
I was shocked at that statement. I had never experienced that before. I still walked away paying the full price, but with an intangible coupon. I realize that love is unsalable and unpurchasable, but sharable and willingly given.
Again, I say if loving you is wrong, I don’t want to be right!
 
(Editor’s note: Marvie Marchbanks will soon be gearing up to help manage the Marion County/Hamilton Farmer’s Market on Bexar Avenue. Local growers should visit the Marion County Extension Office for more information and to obtain a grower’s permit.)