What’s the deepest you’ve ever loved someone? Was it for your parents? Friends? A spouse or lover?
Have you ever loved someone so much that would have pursued them, even if you knew you only had months left to live?
Your Lie in April is full of love stories, ranging from a typical high school romance to sacrificial, serving love. But it’s not until the finale of the series that we see the grandest love of all – that of Kaori Miyazono for Kousei Arima. With her time short, she pours all that she has left into loving someone who didn’t know she even existed, and in doing so, changes his life forever.
The letter that Kaori leaves to Kousei is heartwrenching – it’s an emotional note that was a perfecting ending to this beautiful series. But it’s also stunning, as it reveals so much we didn’t know about Kaori, who was always a bit distant as a character, a little outside of the group, a mover of events if not a participant. But with her last words to Kousei, we see her heart and the lengths she went through to show it.
Who knew that Kaori was bespectacled and reserved? Who knew that she was too shy to approach Kousei? And who knew that she had been chasing him since she was five years old?
And the moment he played the first note, he became the object of my admiration. Playing notes as colorful as a 24-color palette, the melody began to dance.
Kousei didn’t know any of this – he didn’t know that he was always in Kaori’s heart.
A lot can be said in a few words and with a little time. We sometimes look back at events in our life and see a different story than that we knew at the time. It was certainly like that for me – when I look back at hardships and trials in my life, I see a story of redemption I was blind to at the time, the story of God reaching down to me.
Kousei, going through all his hardships, was unaware that there was a young girl who saw him as the “object of her admiration.” Someone who cared about him deeply, who would grow to love him. And someone who would eventually rescue him. He was cajoled into a journey that he wasn’t prepared for – one he didn’t want to even go on, but was compelled that way because of the love of an unabashed young lady who loved him too much to let him continue down the path he was going.
In our lives, we may not have a significant other, and even if we do, he or she may not love us with that kind of love. But we do have someone who pursues us, even if we don’t believe, even if we can’t see Him. The God of the Bible flipped the tables on us and did something that no other religion says their god would do – He pursues us.
The Prodigal Son, my favorite parable of Christ’s, tells us as much. After the father’s son basically tells him, “I wish you were dead right now – I just want my inheritance,” and comes back begging after wasting it all, is met by a father running to him with an embrace and hug, ready to joyously welcome him back into the family. It’s an embarrassing kind of love, an undeserved one that shouldn’t be – but it’s the love of the Father. He wants us so desperately – the God of all creation wants us.
That was the moment…that I broke out into a run.
Even when we do wrong, when we deny him outright, when we deny him by living life our own way, He still runs hard after us, willing to forgive it all just to have his son back. And more than that – he sacrifices his all for us. As Kaori used the remaining year of her life to love Kousei, God did so much more, sending his beloved son to be tortured, to die, suffering a rejection unlike anything he had ever known, for us.
All that so that we could the same words Kaori tells Kousei – that which he doesn’t realize until he reads her letter – that God means these words that he whispers to us through life and by his own letter to us: “I love you.”
And when we’re offered a love like that by one as radiant as the one who bestows it, what else can we do but give all of our love in return?
Okay, I don’t know anything about this series, but one look at the screenshot tells me this is way too depressing for me to watch. (Being in the hospital with my sister after her mini-stroke 2 weeks ago is another reason.)
It’s strangely not as depressing as it seems. While one might find shows like Evangelion (very) and Madoka (mildly) depressing, I would characterize Your Lie in April as being more inspirational, with some depressing and sad moments. But yeah, certainly if it hits too close to home, it might be good to avoid. I hope your sister is doing well – I was in the hospital a couple of years ago for something similar (though I can’t compare the extent of what each of us endured), and it’s definitely difficult. My prayers are with your family.
[…] With all of that said, I will finally let you go, but not before linking to another very well written article on this episode. Check out what Charles from Beneath the Tangles had to say . […]
“Have you ever loved someone so much that would have pursued them, even if you knew you only had months left to live?”
There is someone I love so much that if I ended up blown up, with both of my legs missing, I’d literally drag my bleeding-out body across the ground for a few moments in Reality with him. I’ve waited for two decades after my grand mal seizure to see him again, and I could wait another four. You too have that kind of love for your God. I can hear it in your writing.
Yet we each do it for a being who we cannot prove the existence of, cannot touch, and cannot fully define. There is an irony in that.
“The Prodigal Son, my favorite parable of Christ’s, tells us as much. After the father’s son basically tells him, “I wish you were dead right now – I just want my inheritance,” and comes back begging after wasting it all, is met by a father running to him with an embrace and hug, ready to joyously welcome him back into the family. It’s an embarrassing kind of love, an undeserved one that shouldn’t be – but it’s the love of the Father. He wants us so desperately – the God of all creation wants us.”
This is one of the more beautiful parables in the Bible, because it shows God’s love for his children. (Although I have never felt it myself…) We are dependent beings, servants of greater powers, and we try to pretend like we can’t see the things of import around us. But they go right on existing even if we ignore them, and they offer an unparalleled richness of experience if we are willing to open our eyes to them.
Thank you for sharing, as always. 🙂
I’d like to challenge you to at least consider going out to a service this Easter? Perhaps you’ll feel a connection in a sanctuary that you may not have felt there before, or at home in your own study.
umm can anyone tell what was the illness of Kaori-chan?
I don’t believe they ever specify an illness, its just understood that its an illness that slowly shuts down the body until it kills the person sick with it. Also I don’t think the amount of info given is enough for a diagnosis. Sorry i wasn’t more helpful.