Unconditional Love

‘Tis the season! Yard sale season! Last week I pulled into the anticipated annual church rummage sale, wondering if I’d find the very thing I needed (maybe even something I didn’t know I needed until I saw it!) It was merely 15 minutes past opening time and already the parking lot was jam packed and almost everyone inside already! …Everyone except one woman who was actually running towards the entrance. I grinned thinking how we all need to be running towards church and picked up my pace a bit. Inside, friendly volunteers greeted us, and said not to leave until our arms were full. This seemed right as well.
     I cased the room, a churning sea of treasure hunters. Some kids scurried past with new aliases in wigs they found in the costume area. Men were examining boxes of tools to see if their garage needed something someone else’s didn’t. And the women were all over the place like skilled worker bees. This one needed a black purse, and that one was looking for something blousy. In housewares two college girls were getting a lesson from an older gentleman about a by-gone kitchen relic. I was enjoying their shocked amazement when my eyes landed on the love jar. Indeed, sunlight shown directly through the window, and lighted up the ceramic vessel like it was the Holy Grail. Stamped on the belly were the words “Unconditional Love”. Amazing, in this bubbling sea of humanity and not one person wanted the unconditional love! Equally interesting, obviously someone had possessed the unconditional love, and decided it was time to let it go. To me the jar was a metaphor and I too passed it by because, well, I already had it.
Realistically, most material things aren’t as valuable as you might think. Even Hummels, and Beanie Babies won’t gain you a fortune, and we’d be better off collecting moments that are precious than collecting Precious Moments.
     Often a thing’s only value is sentimental. My hubby, Jeff, figured we’d be able to pay off the house mortgage or at least make a car payment with the sale of his authentic vintage Stewart’s root beer mug. Our yard sale visitors came and went all day, but no one offered to buy the fluorescent orange (plastic) treasure. Deflated Jeff marked it down to a quarter and then two hours later put it in the free box.
     Some dear friends of ours laugh about going to a garage sale when the family was not actually having a garage sale! They saw the open door and treasures scattered about the lawn so they parked and walked into the garage. The homeowner asked, “Can I help you?“ To which they politely replied “No, thank you we were just looking.”
     Truth be told I think everyone wants unconditional love, it’s just hard to know where to find it. There has even been some debate as to whether God actually offers us unconditional love. Romans 5:6-8 tells us that Christ died for us while we were still sinners, which seemingly demonstrates that, regardless of our “condition”, God still provides a plan of salvation for us all. This love, of course, does not mean that everyone will go to heaven, because the only door we can enter Heaven through is Jesus Christ and we should be running towards it. And herein lies the second camp of thinkers…while God’s love is unconditional His plan of salvation is not. He actually require us to do two things; repent and accept Jesus as our personal Savior, therefore faithfulness is a “condition”. The indisputable fact is that God loves us whether or not we love Him back.
     Obviously that kind of love can’t be bought or sold. Still, I can’t help but wonder if anyone left church that day with “Unconditional Love”…because they were looking for just that very thing.

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