Every year near Valentine’s Day, I remember an incident that happened when I taught English in a middle school in North Carolina. The assignment was for the 22 students to write essays on the subject of “love.”
I’ll never forget the opening sentences in one boy’s essay: “Love is the kind of thing that makes two people think they are pretty when they ain’t. It makes two people sit close together on a park bench when there is lots of room at both ends.”
In the New World Dictionary of American English, one definition of love is “a strong, tender feeling of affection for another person or persons.” When I think of the people — parents, teachers, husband, children, and friends — who have empowered my life through their love, I think the word also denotes respect, appreciation and encouragement. If I were to define love by what the individual letters mean, I would say:
* L is for laughter. In the home in which I grew up, my father called on each of us at dinner to tell the funniest or happiest thing that had happened to us that day. As the stories were told, there was great laughter, even hilarity. In retrospect, I realize that it made us look for good things that happened.
* O would stand for opportunities. For example, my father helped us to see how fortunate we were to live in the USA. I’m sure that the reason I so enjoy the patriotic holidays came from those dinnertime discussions on the privilege of being an American.
* V stands for victory. It only comes from taking responsibility for our own actions and not giving in to the temptation of blaming others.
* E stands for energy. It comes from putting our faith into action. For a Christian, it means remembering the words of Jesus: “A new commandment I gave unto you — that you love one another as I have loved you” (John 13:34).
In a world that seems increasingly filled with violence and hatred, we need to practice the art of Christian love.
Contact Nell Mohney at nellwmohney@comcast.net.