Valentines Day is just around the corner. Thoughts turn to love….and sometimes loves lost. Roses, candy, a night out on the town. Love of family, love of life, love of all sorts fill that love bank we carry within all of us. Love. That word has great significance for me. Merriam-Webster defined it for me. But the definition is only words unless it is believed and shown in actions.
The fourth definition of love
a : unselfish, loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another: such as
(1) : the fatherly concern of God for humankind
(2) : brotherly concern for others
Wherever we go I end up in a conversation with strangers. And, always as we part be it from a five minute conversation or one that truly evolves into friendship, we end with an embrace and sometimes tears. One of the best compliments I ever received was from a counselor I worked with at the high school. She said, “Pam, you love the dregs of the earth, and they love you back.” Wow! What a treasured comment. I knew from the time when I was a child back the lane that there was more to love.
(Back to my dictionary) be·nev·o·lent: kind, kindly, kindhearted, big-hearted, good-natured, benign, compassionate (synonyms) caring, altruistic, humanitarian, philanthropic; generous, magnanimous, munificent, unselfish, openhanded, beneficent.
If ever the world needed love, it is now. Love that has no boundaries. Love that should wrap around us all making us kind, compassionate, humanitarians thinking only in altruistic terms (selfless concern for the well-being of others; unselfish). We cannot be Christians if love lacks all of the above. Love does not dwell beneath only one flag. It does not come in only one color. Love is not only for those of one race, one belief, one country, one lifestyle. Love is a universal language singing from the hearts of those who believe in it and understand it. Love. Meant to flow out. Meant to embrace.
As you all know, I believe we are to love everyone we meet….and even those we never meet, but those who share Planet Earth. We are all pieces of a puzzle that is not complete until we find that love of one another. Isn’t it, in fact, what we are told in the words of Christ? Love one another. As simple as that. No discrimination, no theology difference, no race, no creed, no judgement of any kind. A simple four letter word. LOVE. Red and yellow, black and white. He loved the sinner and spent time with those who all others turned away from. He gave us an example because He was ‘love come down’.
I cannot make others love one another, but I can love all I meet. I can look beyond differences and find similarities. I can reach out a hand to those in need instead of slapping it down. I can share the light I find in myself calling forward love and handing it out to every person I meet without asking them to change.
Today I hand you a valentine. I hand you love.
