What
is Love?
Mom is scurrying around the kitchen making her wonderful
crème brule French toast and quiche. Dad is outside shooting baskets with their
two children. When the food is done cooking, she calls everyone in for dinner.
The family sits down, says grace, and digs into the delicious food. At the
table the family talks about each other’s day, and even plays the “would you
rather…” game, filled with smiles and laughs.
Taking
time out of your busy day for a family meal together…that is Love.
Jalynn’s best friend, Naomi, is sick and had to miss
school. Jalynn tells the teacher that she’ll grab Naomi’s books and homework
information, so Naomi doesn’t fall behind. Before Jalynn stops at Naomi’s
house, Jalynn gets Naomi a little gift and brings her some warm chicken noodle
soup and a Sprite. Jalynn surprises her best friend and offers to help with
homework and stay awhile. Naomi thanks Jalynn for the soup, Sprite, and gifts.
She also takes Jalynn up on helping with homework and staying awhile.
Being
there for a sick friend and helping out, when you don’t have to be…that is Love.
On a beautiful summer day a gorgeous woman in white, gets
escorted down the isle by her father, all the while, she has her eyes glued to
a handsome man in a tux. Their hands embrace and they happily tell each other
their vows; vows that put the other first in sickness and health. They say the
two magic words “I Do”, and seal it with their first kiss as man and wife.
The
act of a man and woman becoming one through marriage…that is Love.
A happily married man and woman, have been trying to have
children for years but can’t. They decide they want to make their house a home.
They start doing research on the Internet, through church, and friend inquiry.
They decide on an agency and go through the long and thorough process. Then on
a beautiful winter day, with snow glistening in the sun, the couple waits at
the airport. Each minute feels as long as an hour as they count down the
minutes of the plane’s arrival. Finally the plane rolls into its gate and a
flood of people start rushing off to continue on with their lives. At the end
of the line they see an agent holding an infant from South Korea. As the boy
gets handed over to the married couple, they become a family and their house
becomes a home.
Adopting
a child and taking him as your own…that is Love.
A twenty-eight year old is surrounded by relatives and
close friends as she holds onto his wedding ring in one hand, in the other she
holds a Curious George stuffed animal. All the while, his life will never be
the same, as he goes under the knife to remove a perfectly healthy kidney. In
an operating room nearby the owner of the Curious George toy is waiting to
receive a new kidney from the only perfect match they could find…his father
Giving
a kidney for the possibility of having a healthy child…that is Love.
Tina is finally feeling that she has friends at her new
high school, because she got invited to a party with the popular girls. When
Tina asks her parents if she can go, they talk to her about the girls she is now
friends with. They also discuss how excited their daughter is to be “popular”,
but are old and wise enough to know that these girls are fake and probably up
to no good. They tell Tina she can’t go. Tina is furious at first, but later
found out that the “popular” crowd pretends to befriend someone just to make
fun and humiliate them.
Parent’s
saying no to a party, they just know won’t end up good…that is Love.
Lucy, a young single mom, was living paycheck to paycheck
with her little child, trying to survive. She was trying to get them on their
feet, but she couldn’t hold a job, because she kept getting fired because she’d
run to her best friends alcohol and methamphetamine when life was too much to
handle. She hit rock bottom and decided to give Teen Challenge a try, to give
God another chance. She checked herself in, while her young son, went into
foster care. After a hard, but successful recovery, she found a stable job, and
found a place a small but good apartment for two. After, she had proved she was
back on her feet; her little boy was able to return to her.
Checking
into rehab to get clean to make a better life for you and your child…that is
Love.
Melody is a high school student who loves the outdoors
and looking at God’s beautiful creation. She believes it is important to take
care of what God has given us. Every Monday morning she heads to school early
and picks up the trash around the campus. Nobody is telling her to do this; she
does it as an act of worship to God.
Taking
care of God’ creation because of your adoration for Him…that is Love.
Just a boy, barely even eighteen, enlists himself in the
army. He had dreamed about being
in the army ever since he was a little boy, as he wanted to defend his country
that allows him to praise the name of the Lord without doing it in fear of losing
one’s life, who gives him freedom to go to college, and choose his career
instead of it being chosen for him. He wanted to fight for his country like his
father did. Little did he know
this childhood fantasy of defending what he believed in and becoming a hero,
would soon become a reality. As soon as he was done with basic training he was
deployed to fight in the bloodiest World War of all time: World War II.
Fighting
for your country and possibly giving your life for it…that is Love.
Violent whips breaking the skin, lash after lash. Thorns
intruding into the head, with blood flowing fast. He was ordered to wear a
robe, even as the blood dried and then was forced to take it off reopening the
wounds. He dragged a large, heavy piece of tree uphill, after being beaten and
flogged. He was mocked in the worst kind of ways. He was laid down only to have
nails pounded through His hands and feet. Only to be placed vertically on a
cross, with no water to drink, and it becoming harder and harder to breath.
Taking the final breath and saying “It is finished.”
Jesus
died on the cross for YOU and me that we may live… that is TRUE LOVE.
