Day 29 – Love

I have been intrigued by the times the word, “love,” has been mentioned in the prayers of our book, “May It Be So.” Six of the prayers have to do with how we see, receive, and do love with each other. Six others are petitions for the assurance and presence of God’s love, and the seventh is our response to the other six prayers.

The first petition is, “Grant me the assurance of Your presence and love.” (Please note the accompanying picture is of bread and wine). The next five petitions read “Grant me once again, assurance of Your presence and love.” The very last petition in the book is our response to these prayers,”May I be a constant and faithful reminder of Your presence of love.”

The human heart craves love. We want to hear over and over again that we are loved. Is love just an unseen idea? Can it be touched? Can it be seen? While contemplating writing this article I received one of the seemingly endless mailings from “Feed the Children.” The caption on the envelope reading “Love=Food,” arrested my attention.

The ensuing article started out by saying that the drive to feed their children is so powerful that parents will work two or three jobs, skip meals, and sacrifice in other areas, whatever it takes. It ended with the words, “That’s what love looks like.” It continued by saying that food equals health, opportunity, hope, and most of all, “FOOD EQUALS LOVE.”

Can you see it? Can you touch it? Can you feel it? This last quote from the article, “Love is not just an intangible idea. Love is very much a verb.” If you remember the definition of a verb, it is a word that shows action or a state of being.

I’ve tried to make a short list comprised of seeing, touching, and feeling what love could look like.

To a happy child love is a happy home with Mom and Dad and lots of smiles and hugs.

To a grieving person love is an encouraging hug.

To a sick person love is a hot cup of soup, a short visit.

To a person without a home, love is a kind word, a sandwich or a bottle of water.

To a lonely or single person, love is an invitation to Sabbath dinner.

To the homebound love is a regular telephone call or visit to look froward to.

To the hungry love is a plateful of food.

The list could go on and on……

What does love look like to you? When have have you experienced love that touched your heart? I started to think about the times I personally knew what love looked like.

Let me share a few with you.

It was so special to have my mother wake me up on my birthday with a smile and a cup of warm eggnog with lots of nutmeg. It was such a lovely feeling.

I knew what love looked like when a dear friend volunteered to keep my daughter and paid her tuition while I returned to school.

Then there was the time someone left a twenty dollar bill on my desk at work. I never found out who it was, but obviously someone knew that I needed it.

Upon returning from a convention my 10 year-old daughter proudly gave me a card that she had purchased herself. It was a black card with the words “Welcome Home” written on the outside. Inside she had written a little note to the effect that she was glad to have me home. I couldn’t hold back my laughter for it was a sympathy card and when I explained she looked up at me with love, and in childlike innocence said “but Mom it said “Welcome Home.”

 One Sabbath morning as I came into the front lobby and ran into a friend. Upon learning that I had lost my mother and brother within days of each other and was just returning from my brother’s funeral, she just put her arms around me and wept. I will always treasure that moment.

My father was a wonderful, kind man, but not especially expressive with words of affection. But we always knew that we were loved. I had just totaled my dearly beloved Corvair and, with my younger brother and sister, walked away with barely a scratch, (exactly three stitches in my nose). A few days later my father and I crossed paths in our dining room and he stopped me, took my swollen face in his hands and just looked at me. His look said it all. I wept.

The last look of love I would like to share occurred about two years ago when I came across a little book entitled, “Christ in Isaiah Fifty-Three.” I had read this chapter in Isaiah many times and even memorized it. This time it was different. The author broke the chapter down verse by verse. I began to comprehend anew what it meant for Jesus to be wounded for my transgressions and bruised for my iniquities, the punishment that I should have received was given to him and with his stripes I am healed. Like wayward sheep we have all gone our different ways and the Lord has laid on him all our sins, mine, yours, and the sins of all the world  Our shepherd has laid down his life for his sheep so that we can be saved. This was without a doubt love’s finest hour.

As I look at the lamb in prayer 29 I am reminded that God so loved the world…

As I reflect on the broken body I am reminded of the meal Jesus shared with His disciples when He took bread and broke it saying, “Take, eat this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me (1 Cor 11:24).”

John 6:33 says, “For the bread of life is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” Then He took the cup after supper saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood which is shed for you. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.

For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do drink to the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Cor 11:25-26).” John 6:54 says, “He who eats my flesh(bread) and drinks my blood has eternal fife… For my flesh is food indeed and my blood is drink indeed.”

The table has been prepared for us. Come, eat. This Food Equals Love! Every time we eat at the communion table we are assured of God’s presence and reminded of God’s love. “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.” Let us give thanks for this assurance of His presence and love, once again.