Expressions of Love

Recently I was chatting with a friend as she was picking up children, so I stood at her open van door while the children played and talked inside. Our conversation was interrupted when the youngest girl, age 5, wanted her older brother to take his hand off of the car seat in front of her so she could do something. He would not remove his hand. My friend assessed the situation and said, “Son, are you choosing love?” Clearly, they had spoken of this before in their family. He removed his hand and his sister said “Thank You.”

I was impressed by this simple call to pay attention to whether or not one's actions were expressing love. Expressions of love are on my mind lately, not only because Valentine's Day, but because I have been on the receiving end of many.

Today, in particular, several things collided to form a bit of an emotional roller coaster, but all had to do with love. First, I received flowers delivered to me with a sweet message from my husband and how he was thankful to God for bringing us together 14 years ago. I was elated! Even brought to tears. Second, I found myself apologizing for a missed opportunity to express love to a friend. Third, I received news of my husband's grandmother's passing. She was 90, and I realized that she truly was my grandmother, too. Many times over the past few years, I was at her house on an errand of love. A week ago, she held my hand to her lips and kissed it, and through tears, she said, “I love you.”

My life has been a whirlwind of chaos for a few months. Mostly because of illness. Actually, it was mostly because I was not focused on feeling the love of the Lord and following His ways. It would be more accurate to say that my mind has been a whirlwind of chaos and worry.

But then this week, after a humbling experience of how my own self-absorption negatively impacted another person, I resolved to wake up from my spiritual slumber and seek the Spirit diligently. As I have done so, I have received the most wonderful expression of love from my Heavenly Father – peace. I feel His Spirit again. I lost my worries.

In this life, we will get sick. We will have so much responsibility that it overwhelms us. People we love will pass on. We will miss some opportunities. We will hurt others unintentionally. We will be selfish at times. We can worry our way through it and become so absorbed by our problems that we lose some capacity to love. Or, we can try to remember to ask ourselves: How can I show love today?