Love

Love has been in the air since Valentine's Day. My daughter, Melissa, posted a thought on her facebook last week that said she was pondering how deep and wide love is. Then Jim asked me to speak at an event on Saturday night, the topic was "Love". So love has been on my mind and I started remembering times when love amazed me most. Thus the picture of my 2 boys, Brian and Michael (taken by their sister, Rachel)!! I adore this picture of love. Brian dreamed of a brother to play soccer with, drive to McDonald's, talk about girls with, etc. His love for the brother he got instead is one of the sweetest things I've ever seen.

I have many memories of being overwhelmed by love. As Jim and I approach our 25th wedding anniversary, I am reminded of how sweet and long-lasting love can be. But there have been other times when love has amazed me. This one especially stands out in my memory: When Michael was a baby he had several surgeries. One of the most difficult to recover from was surgery on his feet. I spent 5 days in the hospital with him as he recovered. We shared a room with a mother and her baby (Kaitlyn) who also had a rare genetic syndrome. Only instead of face repairs and foot surgeries, Kaitlyn was having a shunt put in to drain fluid from her brain as she prepared for open heart surgery. Kaitlyn's deformities were sure to cut her life short. She was also blind. I didn't know it, but I was in a classroom and God was about to teach me a lot about love.

As I watched this young mother care for her baby, I caught a glimpse of real love: love that gave knowing it wouldn't receive much in return, love that gave in spite of the pain that was sure to come from loving, love that saw past the brokenness, love that knew to love would cost everything, deep, unconditional, selfless, amazing. In the night Kaitlyn would cry. Her mother couldn't pick her up since she was hooked to tubes, so she would just lay her hand on her. Kaitlyn would immediately stop crying. One night her mom was out of the room and she started to cry. I walked over and put my hand on her, exactly as I'd seen her mother do, and there was no change. This baby knew her mother's touch.

I left that hospital with a new appreciation for love. I realized that if a human can love like that, God's love must be beyond what I'll ever understand. He loves us in our brokenness, without expecting anything in return. Loving cost Him everything, even His life. What kind of love is this?

I long to know my Savior's touch like Kaitlyn knew the touch of her mother, the one whose love calmed her and gave her peace. The Bible tells me that nothing can seperate me from this love (Romans 8:35-39). Because I'm loved like this, I can give love. I won't fully understand the depth of this love on this side of heaven, but I am overwhelmed at the glimpses I get of how great it really is.

May you know the Savior's amazing love for you. And may it calm you and bring you peace.

Angela