{"id":361,"date":"2013-02-15T13:59:26","date_gmt":"2013-02-15T18:59:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/commonwordcommonlord\/?p=361"},"modified":"2013-02-15T13:59:26","modified_gmt":"2013-02-15T18:59:26","slug":"our-first-love-is-always-there","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/our-first-love-is-always-there\/","title":{"rendered":"Our “First Love” Is Always There"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the Name of God, the Compassionate and Infinitely Merciful<\/em><\/p>\n

Given that is the time of year for love, sort of, I had blogged about a particular song<\/a>, “Lullabies” by singer\/songwriter Yuna (a Muslim woman who wears the headscarf, by the way). I wrote about how the song reminds me of someone who wanted to “go away” with the Lord but then decided not to, only to regret the decision later.\u00a0 I had concluded that:<\/p>\n

we should never let go of the Beloved, who is truly our “First Love.” He loved us first, and one of the greatest manifestations of this Divine Love is that He gave us life when we were dead. Thus, we cannot help but love Him in return. And we must love Him first, for He loved us first. Thus, He is always our “First Love.” And we should never let Him go.<\/em> <\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yet, say – for whatever reason – someone does let go of his “First Love”? Say, for whatever reason, someone forsakes the path of God and takes his own? Say, for whatever reason, someone decides not to walk with God, but rather walk with someone or something else? Does God go anywhere?<\/p>\n

Absolutely not.<\/p>\n

The Lord always remains there, waiting patiently for the person to come back to Him. That is part of His Beauty; that is part of His Mercy; that is part of His Grace. So, even though I see that song’s narrator as lamenting the decision to forsake the Lord and His path, and as the song says:<\/p>\n

Like lullabies you are,<\/em><\/strong>
\n Forever in my mind.<\/em><\/strong>
\n I see you in all,<\/em><\/strong>
\n The pieces in my life.<\/em><\/strong>
\n Though you weren’t mine,<\/em><\/strong>
\n you were my first love.<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That doesn’t mean that you can’t come back. Yes, I said we should never let Him go in the first place. Nevertheless, for those who have – for whatever reason – they can always come back. The Lord will not go anywhere. He will always be there. His love will always endure, always be strong, always be there to comfort and soothe.<\/p>\n

That is why He is such an Awesome God. That is why He is so worthy of worship. That is why He is so Wonderful a Master. His Name be praised for ever and ever, Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the Name of God, the Compassionate and Infinitely Merciful Given that is the time of year for love, sort of, I had blogged about a particular song, “Lullabies” by singer\/songwriter Yuna (a Muslim woman who wears the headscarf, by the way). I wrote about how the song reminds me of someone who wanted to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":175,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,131],"tags":[9,11,37,461,465,139,293,463,464,462],"class_list":["post-361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-common-word","category-heshams-ipod","tag-god","tag-islam","tag-love","tag-lullabies","tag-music","tag-popular-culture","tag-reflection","tag-song","tag-valentines-day","tag-yuna"],"yoast_head":"\nOur "First Love" Is Always There - Common Word, Common Lord<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Our "First Love" Is Always There - Common Word, Common Lord\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the Name of God, the Compassionate and Infinitely Merciful Given that is the time of year for love, sort of, I had blogged about a particular song, “Lullabies” by singer\/songwriter Yuna (a Muslim woman who wears the headscarf, by the way). I wrote about how the song reminds me of someone who wanted to…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/our-first-love-is-always-there\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Common Word, Common Lord\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-02-15T18:59:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Hesham A. Hassaballa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@GodFaithPen\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Our \"First Love\" Is Always There - Common Word, Common Lord","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"nofollow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Our \"First Love\" Is Always There - Common Word, Common Lord","og_description":"In the Name of God, the Compassionate and Infinitely Merciful Given that is the time of year for love, sort of, I had blogged about a particular song, “Lullabies” by singer\/songwriter Yuna (a Muslim woman who wears the headscarf, by the way). I wrote about how the song reminds me of someone who wanted to…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/our-first-love-is-always-there\/","og_site_name":"Common Word, Common Lord","article_published_time":"2013-02-15T18:59:26+00:00","author":"Hesham A. Hassaballa","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@GodFaithPen","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/our-first-love-is-always-there\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/our-first-love-is-always-there\/","name":"Our \"First Love\" Is Always There - Common Word, Common Lord","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-02-15T18:59:26+00:00","dateModified":"2013-02-15T18:59:26+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/#\/schema\/person\/c2d50a46198edad19abb055001c4cd21"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/our-first-love-is-always-there\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/our-first-love-is-always-there\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/our-first-love-is-always-there\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Our “First Love” Is Always There"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/","name":"Common Word, Common Lord","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Hesham Hassaballa","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/#\/schema\/person\/c2d50a46198edad19abb055001c4cd21","name":"Hesham A. Hassaballa","description":"Hesham A. Hassaballa is a Chicago doctor and writer. He has written extensively on a freelance basis, being published in newspapers across the country and around the world. He has been a Beliefnet columnist since 2001, and has written for the Religion News Service. He is also a columnist for Patheos. His articles have been distributed worldwide by Agence Global, and he was also a guest blogger for The Chicago Tribune and has blogged on ChicagoNow\" . In addition, Dr. Hassaballa has appeared as a guest on WTTW (Channel 11) in Chicago, CNN, Fox News, BBC, and National Public Radio. Dr. Hassaballa is co-author of The Beliefnet Guide to Islam (Doubleday), and his essay, \u201cWhy I Love the Ten Commandments,\u201d was published in the award-winning book Taking Back Islam (Rodale). His latest book, Noble Brother, is the story of the Prophet Muhammad told entirely in poetry, and it is now published in its second edition. In 2007, his blog \"God, Faith, and a Pen\" was nominated for a Brass Crescent Award for a blog that is \u201cthe most stimulating, insightful, and philosophical, providing the best rebuttals to extremist ideology and making an impact whenever they post.\u201d \"God, Faith, and a Pen\" has also received an award for being one of the \"Top Muslim Blogs for 2010\" by Awarding The Web. In addition to writing, Dr. Hassaballa helped found the Chicago Chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations and currently serves on their board of directors. He also co-founded the Bayan H. Hassaballa Charitable Foundation and now serves as its Treasurer.","sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/GodFaithPen"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/author\/hhassaballa\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/175"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":366,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361\/revisions\/366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}