Mom Heart Moments #268

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

ATTENDING A SECULAR LEADERSHIP conference by myself with over eight hundred people had made me quite shy. Yet the first night I attended this conference in a large hotel ballroom, a sweet woman called out to me, “I have an empty seat next to me. Do you want to join me?”

And so we began talking, and from that night on, we sat together. Over the course of the four days, we had talked and shared with one another and were becoming real pals.

One morning I said to her, “Tell me all about yourself! I would love to know your life story!”

“There is something I have not told you,” she whispered, “and when you know, you will be ashamed of me, and ashamed to be my friend.

“I have been married and divorced three times, and I didn’t want you to know.”

I took her lovely face into my hands and said, “You have befriended me. You bubble over when you talk. You reach out to everyone you know. You are interesting, intelligent, attractive, loving, and that is what I know about you, my sweet friend. I would never define you by your past. I love who you are right now, just as you are, and I am so very thankful for you!”

Her eyes widened as though she couldn’t believe what I was saying. We gave each other a warm embrace. She said, “No one has ever loved me like that before. Even my mother had a hard time accepting my loud, extroverted personality, and I have been looking for love my whole life. That is why I kept leaving my marriages —because they didn’t fill my need for love.”

And then, during the last day of the conference, she opened her heart to the love of Jesus.

What does it mean to you, to show love to your family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers in a tangible way?