This Kind of Love

My previous post focused on the love amongst siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles and the likes. There is another kind of love that can hardly be explained. This is the love between a parent and child [ we’ll add the grandmas, grandpas and grandbabies in the mix]. This valentine’s day if you have a parent who loves you or a child who loves you, you are beyond blessed. It’s very hard to fathom a parent not loving a child or vice-versa, but I’ve seen it too often in my lifetime. That is almost against the laws of nature. That being said, we live in a broken world with fractured scarred hearts. If this is your story, I’d love to encourage you to take a chance- try to make amends or reconcile if you can or before you can’t.

This kind of love goes deep at times beyond reason. You love even when it makes no sense. This kind of love drives us to give when it hurts, it can rip your heart to pieces, stop you in your tracks or push you to climb mountains. We fight for our children and grandchildren in ways past human comprehension. Short of committing a crime there’s nothing we won’t do for our children. Children then get to love in return. Many of us refuse to imagine life without mama or papa. When that moment of parting comes – we find we have to go deep and outside of ourselves to find the strength to just breathe. God in His infinite love stands by to hold us when we just can’t. He knows what He was doing when He connected the hearts of parents and children. We do need each other. When the love is missing, hearts become wounded. Something will always be lacking, even when we find love in other places. I’ve often heard adopted children say they love their birth parents without even knowing them. The same is true for parents who had to give up their children at birth – often without ever seeing them. This kind of love remains when all else leaves.

So, no valentines in this season? How about reflecting on the love of your parents or children? What a privilege to get to experience this kind of love. I hear the love of and for grandbabies is a whole different adventure. It takes you to another place. If you were gifted with this kind of love, take a minute and breathe it in. Many are yearning or mourning today for a child never had or a child lost. A parent never had, or a parent lost. There’s someone who would exchange places with you in a minute. In the words of Kool and the Gang – ‘Cherish the love we have; we should cherish the life we live.’ If you haven’t yet noticed – too soon it passes, too soon it’s gone.

My prayer: ‘Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom’. [Psalm 90:12]

***Thanks for reading. Cherish the loves you have – whatever that may look like.