This song means a lot of different things to different people..."Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen...but I like it for 2 reasons - the chord progressions and the line that says, "Love is not a victory march...it's a cold and broken Hallelujah." That line holds such profound meaning for me.

I spent a few days with a friend last week whose heart is shattered into a million little pieces. I tried to pick up a few pieces here and there, but it didn't do much good. There are just too many fragments. Sometimes, no matter how much we love someone, love is not enough to fix everything.

But we should still love.

Sometimes people make decisions that destroy families, and our love for them isn't enough to stop the hurt for the people who are left in the aftermath. Sometimes we love people who will never love us back. Love anyway. Don't keep score. Don't compare. Love is not a victory march. Sometimes it's a cold and broken "Hallelujah." Sometimes all you can do is cry out to God, and trust that He hears, He sees, He knows.

Hallelujah simply means "Praise the Lord." It's not always easy to praise God for everything that comes our way. When I look at certain situations, I'm not always able to say "Thank you, God, for this," but I can still say "Hallelujah," knowing that God knows what is in my heart. Sometimes my "Hallelujah" is cold and broken, and spoken through tears, through frustration, through helplessness at not being able to fix certain situations.

Love anyway.

My "Hallelujah" can still be lifted to my God above, who knows every detail of every situation. I have a handful of friends who are really hurting this week. I can't make things better for them. But I can pray for God's comfort to surround them, and I can share music with them to remind them that I love them and I'm thinking of them.

Each one of the friends on my mind tonight has lost someone that they love. In their own way, they each feel like they didn't do enough, didn't show enough love, should have done this or that differently. There is a heaviness of guilt that envelopes them. I don't think any of them loved inadequately. Love is not a victory march. We all love as best we can - but sometimes people have a God-shaped void in their life, and no amount of human love can fill that. Only God can fill the depth of that kind of emptiness.

To my friends...you loved well. I pray that you can find a degree of comfort in knowing that you loved generously, and that love is never wasted, nor shared with others in vain.

We've talked about this song. You know who you are, and what you mean to me, and I dedicate this song to you. Truth be told, God is the only one who loves perfectly. As people, we do our best to love well, but our love is nothing compared to the love that God gives to each and every one of us. Hallelujah 💗