God Loves You, and So Do I

I never thought that writing two blogs would be as difficult as it is. Part of it might just be having no routine in life. Usually what I write about is the stuff I'm thinking and working through, which lately has been mostly stuff about becoming the man God made me to be, and I'm not going to write the same thing on two blogs. But I do want to keep this one consistent, and I am hoping for a change soon that will give life a little more structure.

A few days ago something came to my mind that I haven't thought about in years. My last semester of college I had to take one final, I guess gen ed course, called Senior Colloquium. Don't really remember much of the class aside from doing a sweet project that involved more time and energy than any other school assignment I had ever done (and we did all that work by choice, ironically in our final semester of school). But even the specifics of the project I don't fully remember.

But there is one thing from class I do remember quite clearly. Every day at the start of class the professor would stand up, get our attention, and share some devotional thought. At the end of that, every day without fail, he would say, "Has anyone told you today that you are loved? If not let me be the first. God loves you, and so do I." Each of his students has heard every day of class that they are loved.

I don't know what made me think of that, but it is the one thing I remember most clearly about him. And if you asked any of his students to tell you one thing about him I guarantee it would be the same thing. Every day he told me I was loved.

What if we all had someone like that? I am blessed with a wife who tells me everyday that she loves me, but when I was single, living on my own, I would go weeks without being told that. I don't know the last time I heard those words from anyone other than my wife to tell you the truth, and that isn't a complaint just a statement.

There are people out there who don't hear those words, who don't feel loved, or that they are lovable. A few weeks ago my wife came home from work upset, I could see she had been crying. She told me about a lady who worked at the store she's at, who had died suddenly over the weekend. My wife is the kindest person I have ever met, and she began to tell me about this lady. She worked as a custodian at the store, was a single mom with an autistic son. She used to come to work early just to be able to talk to my wife and not get in trouble with management. My wife was a friend to her.

The thing that really hit me was when my wife told me that one day she had told this lady that she looked really pretty with the way she had done her hair that day. She told my wife, "That's the first compliment anyone has ever given me." That hit me so hard. This lady had lived her whole life without being told she was beautiful. She had lived her whole life not knowing that she was loved, feeling unlovable and that she didn't matter.

And as I listened to my wife tell me about the last few months I was able to give her some comfort by showing her that because of her this woman's last months on earth were the best she had ever lived. For the first time someone had shown her love, some one had shown her that she was lovable.

We all meet people everyday who are like that lady. Most of them we don't know and will never see again. Some of them we have known for years but have never realized this side of their lives. Everyday my professor stood in front of students, many who would probably never see him again after the semester, but every day he told them that they were loved by him, but more importantly by God.

We can all be like my professor. We can all be like my wife. All of us have the ability to show love. You never know when you might be showing someone love for the first time in their life. You never know when you might be there loving someone at the end of theirs. So today, tell someone that they are loved. Show someone the love of God.

Has anyone told you that you are loved today? If not let me be the first. God loves you, and so do I.

"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."

To God alone be the Glory!

Peace be with you