I Love You

What is love? No, I don't mean love like you love your boyfriend or your girlfriend or being IN love. I mean love. The way you love your friends, your parents, your children, your bothers, your sisters, your pets. Whatever it is that you love. Like the way your parents may bring home a new baby, and in that instant a new love develops. Like no matter what they do, you'll always love them. No conditions, no returns, no refunds.

When in Mexico, summer of 2009, one of the places we went was to an orphanage. The children there had every right to be miserable and bitter, but none of them were. They were smiling and happy and sweet. But one little girl in particular remains forever in my memory. I remember her very clearly. She had short, boyish hair, chocolate brown eyes, a petite, sweet face, and a heart of gold. When we were close to leaving, she came up and hugged me. Her head up to about my waist and her tiny arms wrapped around me. As she looked up at me with those big brown eyes, her smile was one of pure joy. A smile I've never seen before. A joy so pure, so whole, so right, that it changed my life forever.

And THAT is what love is. That little girl didn't know me, but for some unknown reason, she loved me. She wanted me to stay there with her forever. She wanted me to be her best friend, her sister, her mom. And if I could have stayed there with her, I know with all my heart that I would have. Thinking about her now brings tears to my eyes. Because never in my life have I seen such a pure soul, or that pure joy on her face.

The same thing goes for my nieces. Abigail, the first, my beloved Abigail, changed my life. As a baby, so sweet and little and innocent, to a toddler, growing brighter and bolder with every day, I've loved her since her day of birth. I watched her grow and get smarter and sweeter, loving her no matter what. And then Hayden was born, and I was there in the delivery room. Nothing is more incredible, more spectacular, than birth. From the moment she was born to her final days, I'll love her.

I'll never understand how someone can love or be loved unconditionally, for absolutely no reason. What's my reason for loving my parents? My nieces? My siblings? Just because. No because I'm supposed to, not because I'm told to, but because I just love them.

How does that work? And why? Why love someone for no reason? I don't know why it happens, or how. But I have to think, if I can love them so much, no matter what they do, how much must my God love me? Even though I make so many mistakes every day, He loves me. No matter what I do wrong, He loves me. Why? Because he made me. With Earth and sky and water and air, he spoke it into existence. But with us, with his people, he took his time. He carefully designed each one of us with a purpose. And he loves us, no matter what we do. It's unconditional. No returns, no refunds. So you have to always remember... no matter WHAT you do, God loves you, and he designed you. No matter what you do or say, he will always love you.

God Bless The USA ;)