Leah. [Weak Eyes]

[Image via Pinterest]

On the morning after the night Jacob paid the price for the beautiful Rachel he woke up with Leah in the marriage bed.
She couldn't resist the command to fake Rachel by Laban her father. 
Who would? We all need love by the way. So we try to act as who we aren't to get it.

This is the story of Leah.
A woman put in love but left unloved.
A woman in the bible times we hardly mention in our bible studies. She was Jacob's first wive, Rachel's sister and Laban's daughter and was said to have 'weak eyes'.
I don't know if it was the anger of deception, or that there was no chemistry, or that Leah wasn't beautiful that made him make babies and not love with Leah.

This is the story of Leah.
But do you love those that don't love you even when you put in all you can?
I do.

I have discovered that love must dwell in some places even if its unwelcome. 
A few weeks ago I held the hands of an estranged friend and said ' I love you even if you don't love me. I choose to'
Love is the possibility of joy and pain, of rejection and acceptance. We try to exhibit love only in places we know we will get it back but that is 'safe'. And this 'safe' love isn't love. Cause to be safe isn't an inherent characteristic of love. 

For family we must. We are joined by God and not by circumstances. We were born in and didn't walk in. You never had the luxury to choose your family. God must be saying something.

This is the story of Leah, a story of us. For when we find our selves in love beds we think is ours and the owners of these beds look right into our face and say with disgust  'GET OUT!' because our eyes are 'weak' and we are not 'beautiful' GET OUT! I DON'T WANT YOU! I WANT MY RACHEL!'.This is our story.

So what exactly do we do when we give love and are left unloved? stay with me on this.

Leah had four babies for Jacob, the story of their names might just shock you.

For the first she said Reuben: this is a sign that God has seen my misery; and a sign that now my husband will love me.

Sounds familiar? Maybe the next.

For the second she said Simeon: God heard that I was unloved and so he gave me this son

Sounds close? Maybe the next

For the third she said Levi: now maybe my husband will connect with me- I've given him three sons.

Now pause.

How often do we let a relationship that never worked determine our story. How often do we freeze our lives because God never brought back that parent, friend or lover that walked out on us back home.

Now maybe my husband will connect with me

Sometimes we apply all the relationship principles and it never happens. We work so hard and 'birth children' doing all we can just to satisfy the one we want to love us back.
But realize friend, to be unloved is not a sin, I think making it the barometer of our lives is the sin.

Then Leah became pregnant for the fourth time and I think she had an epiphany of sort, cause when she gave birth to the next one she said Judah: this time I'll praise  God.
Does that name sound familiar to you? The lion of the tribe of Judah? That was the lineage the Savior of the world came from.

I have heard so many theories of how pain is for gain and read quotes of how 'those that left were not worth your love', but please again I repeat please, if someone left and it hurt so bad cause they were important in your life and you felt unloved; mourn their absence. See and acknowledge the space they left and don't use the band aid of pop culture - chewing gum - wise sayings to cover up a wound that needs to heal. It's the pain we take to God that yields a gain. A wound looked over or ignored becomes an infested ulcer, an addiction, a dysfunction of sorts.

Leah became pregnant the fourth time and when she birthed this one she said Judah: this time I'll praise  God. Does that name sound familiar to you? The lion of the tribe of Judah. It was from this son of Leah, the point where she changed her perspective of what it means to be unloved that Jesus was birthed from.

To be unloved doesn't mean we are unlovely even if they say we have 'weak eyes' and aren't Rachel. To be unloved is to realize God loves us. To be unloved is to let Him come in and fill the space of those who walked out on us.

To be unloved isn't rejection in the long run If we aren't passive about it. It is an invitation for God to come in and be enthroned so that we can say in that moment of disappointment: This time I will praise God.

I think it is then we realize that even if they didn't love us, we can and are able to love them because God loves us.

"... in my dream, I seemed to see a woman
both young and fair; along a plain she gathered
flowers, and even as she sang, she said:
Whoever asks my name, know that I'm Leah,
and I apply my lovely hands to fashion
a garland of the flowers I have gathered." – Dante Alighieri (Purgatorio) 

To return good for evil is divine. Good for good is human. Evil for evil is barbaric. Evil for good is satanic. - Lecrae

Then Leah gave birth to another son. She name him Judah, because she said, "Now I will praise the LORD." Then Leah stopped having children. - Genesis 29:35

P.S. - The biblical account of Leah can be found in Genesis 29:16-35, 49:31. Biblical scholars believe that the term 'weak eyes' or 'Tender eyes' meant Leah wasn't beautiful.