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I think it’s fair to say my mother June was loved. With adoring children, grandchildren, nephews, nieces, friends, lovers, and colleagues, it only took her 80 years to realize it. She started to pick up on others’ love only after my brother Daniel persuaded the whole family to tell her, “I love you” every chance we got. Even then it took years.
June at 87
There’s nothing unusual about June’s slow uptake. If you’re like most people, you have no idea how much you are loved. But you are, and I can prove it.
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I’ve been feeling unloved and trying to comfort a beloved friend who is feeling unloved. I keep thinking of my friend Steve. He killed himself 24 years ago. He left a note saying he had no friends and no love in his life. 400 people came to his funeral. I walked off my job and flew to Indiana to be there. The local newspaper ran an article about him and his many contributions to the town on the front page. I keep telling my friend that we are probably wrong about ourselves. Maybe things aren’t all that bleak.
Jon, thanks for sharing Steve’s powerful story. I suspect that kind of thing happens a lot. Hope you and your friend come to appreciate how much you are loved.
Love is supernatural and is an essential nutrient in life. I dare say that without love, we would all perish. Look at this desperate world in which we live- Love is sorely missing; if stuff were enough, then all these affluent bankers wouldn’t be jumping off of buildings.
About a month ago, my wife and I experienced this the hard way. We live out in the woods and are surrounded by a National Forest, so people from all over come to camp out and to enjoy nature. For about a week we drove by a campsite with a car and a tent put up next to it. We thought, “Oh that’s nice, someone is off hiking and enjoying an extended nature trip, good for them.” But my wife said one day, “Do you think they’re alright, should we check up on them to make sure they’re OK?”. I made up some excuse and drove on. People park their cars and hang out in the woods all the time, I thought.
Last week, I was riding along with a buddy who’s the chief of the local EMS. By then, the car was gone. As we drove by, I commented, “hey, remember that car that was parked there for a while, anything come of it?”, I said, more curiously than anything. “Yea, it was some young guy, about 20 or so, who decided to end his life- he chose a permanent solution to a temporary problem”, then went on to describe the details with the enthusiasm of a coroner. My heart sunk. A missed opportunity? Maybe. Could I have changed the outcome?
Unless we’re hermits living out in the wilderness, most of us interact with other living things on a daily basis. And, in those seemingly insignificant interactions, are we sharing the love that we have been given by our Creator? I say this because I believe that we are Spirit beings, and there is no more meaningful purpose in this life than loving another. In our daily hectic, distracted lives, could these opportunities be right in front of us? Lord, let me realize this, my true identity, my noble purpose.
David, thanks for getting my attention. My Love Radar is ‘on’.
There’s a bonus in your post, David. Of course reminding us that there are multiple ways of being loved it is of great value. Especially since our society seems to insist there is only eros. The bonus is reminding us that actions that help others, even over a distance or in a group, are ways we are showing love. We don’t usually think of volunteering or altruism as “love,” and seeing it that way enriches the giver as well as the beneficiary.
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