HOW DEEP IS YOUR LOVE? Saturday, April 9
1 Peter 4: 8-11 (NIV): Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen People often marvel at the depth of love when they adopt or give birth to a new child. “I didn’t think I could love another being so much” is a common sentiment. I am fortunate to have been able to have that experience myself when I held both Peter and Louis for the first time. Joyous occasions can certainly be times of experiencing a deep level of love that you have for another. I have also been fortunate, though, to have been on the receiving end of love and been thankful for its depth. Julie and I were married in February of 2003. We were fortunate to celebrate our wedding with family and friends. I was especially thankful that my mother was able to be with us. Mom had successfully battled various cancers for years, but cancer had returned again and this time it was not going to go away. I will always be convinced that our wedding date was a milestone for her in her cancer fight…that it was important for her to see her boy married to this wonderful woman before she could leave this earth. We were barely back from our honeymoon as my mom began to get sicker. Hospitalizations and treatments gave way to the blessed and sad privilege of helping to care for my mom through in-home hospice. This educated and dignified woman – a woman who helped start a preschool and cared for others as a Stephen Minister - could no longer do even the basic things to care for herself. She needed to be cleaned and clothed, to be helped with even a sip of water. Of course, I would do these things because she was my mother. But right there next to me, helping with the most personal of chores, was my wife of only a few months. Caring for my mother! As she helped clean and care for my mom, she showed the depth of love. These were not easy acts of love, like marveling at a newborn, but sad and personal acts. These were not just acts of love for my mom but were acts of love for my dad and for me. And this love helped me with the feelings of grief and loneliness that comes with watching a parent pass away. I knew that we had a deep love when I said “I do” at our wedding ceremony. But several months later, I was able to experience the depth of that love at another level as we helped care for my mom. If you are of a certain age or musical taste, you have heard the classic Bee Gees song “How Deep is Your Love?” If you have not heard the song, please Google it and give it a listen. Once you have heard or remembered this song, there is a good chance that the question in the chorus, “How deep is your love?” will be stuck in your head. As you are trying to get the song un-stuck, let it be a reminder to us to love all and serve all…deeply. Randy McNitt
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