Today is February 14, 2012 AD. On the 11th, the pop singer, Whitney Houston was found in the bath, underwater, in a room at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Hollywood. She had died either just before the room break-in or shortly afterward. Details of the death have not been released as of this writing. The following day the Grammy Awards were marked by the outpouring of interest, sympathy and love for her. The news since has been dominated with various details about her life, her music, and the order of events until burial. Some of the material is in excess, more information or speculation than is needed, but it is related to what I want to address for this Page on this day. More than a year ago the story of entertainer Michael Jackson’s death occupied the news for days. Jackson and Houston shared many similarities in their lives leading to what nearly all persons consider to be tragic deaths – before longevity expectations. The same tragedies touched numerous others in the fields they represented, including in a lengthy list, Elvis Presley, John Lennon, and Janice Joplin. Drugs appear to have been major influences in most of the tragedies – except for Lennon as related to his death. In the reporting of the various deaths, the most common word and emotion used by family and friends, in tears and mourning, was love – usually referring to fans’ love, mixed with family members. According to the Internet, the personal and professional tragedies are so common that the reporter was looking for those who, in the related entertainment industries, have happy stories to tell. There is an underlying feeling that there is common tragedy in the celebrity world of entertainment. (At this editing in 2016, Minnesota’s world entertainer has been added to the list of sorrows. The story now relates to claims, some unreliable, on Prince’s fortune – perhaps $300,000,000.)
The oxygen of heaven is love – God’s love. Love is in the nature of God. Even God cannot deny his nature, or its expression. (2 Timothy 2:13) Scripture offers its benefits and beauty in one of the most magnificent chapters written by any author, in any language, at any time – I Corinthians 13. The chapter teaches us what the highest love really is, in the assumption that mankind will seek that direction. The chapter is not so much the description of our love, but God’s. It is the model for imperfect persons, unable to love perfectly, but seeking perfect love. To the degree we do so, we taste something heavenly. We can, when instructed, feel the heavenly in the earthly. We seek love from God’s nature. According to the Apostle Paul, the love that emanates from God is more meaningful than human language and interprets God’s language; is greater than the power of miracles; is of more value than sacrifice and doing good things; is patient beyond boundaries; is humble; is part of truth and modesty; is not proud, imagining only good in expression and quality; is expressive in ideals, not in evil; is lasting through thick and thin, but not naively; is total and full, never wavering; and, is found partly in persons, (as a child knows a part of what may be known), but will be fulfilled. The more attributes of love are sought and practiced by a person, the greater is the competency for more love. In the end there will be love – divine. Until then the mortal person claims that love in faith (Christ), in hope (immortality), and love (glory) – the context of heaven.
Houston sang for an audience, the night before she died: Jesus Loves Me. This simple chorus learned by millions of children in church may have been the last song Houston sang. Those who love her want to remember beyond the drugs, the broken marriage, the high (actually low) living, in the belief she is somewhere singing: Jesus Loves Me. No earthling can determine what God will direct for any one soul, but we can yearn for the best, perhaps find comfort in our own conclusions. Someone, overflowing with tears and love, needs to tell the mourners, the world, that the best way to avoid tragedy, to avoid uncertainty, to evade debilitating habits and ill relationships, is to seek the love of God in Jesus Christ offering genuine hope – now. We are told that Houston got her start singing in church as a child. What happened, what may have been left out, what aspiration was missed so that a person, singing Jesus Loves Me, dies tragically at an age when she was at the top of her game? This is Valentine’s Day. There are chocolates and heart candies. Hovering in all this is the love of God lost to us? For many, it seems to be lost or evaded. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020