What's Love Got To Do, Got To Do With It?

 

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Good morning!  This is my third attempt at writing a blog so far and I thought it was going to go one way but it didn’t.  I thought it might go down another path but that too was a dead end.  As I began this one, I thought I was on the right track but just received a message from a friend who wrote of a loved one’s condition and in that message there were these two words--words that I had been considering anyways but wanted to keep this blog light and airy today rather than sad and melancholy, so I put them on the back burner, saving them for another day.

Okay then, let’s see how this one goes, Stef.

Bruised heart.

Those were the two words she wrote.  

A couple of days ago my heart--nay, my soul!--was hurting.  I had been invited to a celebration ceremony where many hard-working kids were about to be rewarded for their diligence in their studies for the past school year.  So many proud parents, grandparents, and other caretakers (hmn, that’s an interesting word:  caretakers.  It implies ones who take care, right?  Keep that in mind as you continue reading.) were on hand to see their precious child(ren) receive ribbons and certificates.  Cameras abounded and the gymnasium was...well, it wasn’t as full as when other types of programs went on, but perhaps that was because this order of events was limited to a certain sect of the whole population.

Or was it something else?

As I gazed about the mostly cheerful faces, I noticed something missing.  Perhaps I should say I noticed someone missing.  Where was that one’s dad?  And that kid over there--where was her adoring fan club?  The little kid beside me who kept talking about her daddy really broke my heart because, you see, daddy and mommy were no longer a pair but apart.  Why didn’t he come to see his kids be rewarded, even if it meant sitting on the opposite side of the gym?

Trying to focus on the good that was going on, I purposed myself to pay attention to the better things.  So many achievements by so many students!  How wonderful to see their love for knowledge and to hear of their excellence.  But then, as I listened closely, maybe not by so many after all.  It seemed like I kept hearing a lot of the same names called, just for different categories.  I watched the faces of the classmates as their peer’s name was called.  Some smiled as they shared the pride of knowing that was their friend who was getting an award.  Some clapped enthusiastically when the child’s name was read out.  One parent was quite exuberant in his excitement over what his son had accomplished and let out a huge “Whoop!” which was soon mimicked by the toddlers around me who were getting bored by this time.

But then there were the students who just sat there with blank looks upon their faces.  They knew they were just there because, well, they were just there.  Nothing special was going to happen to them and they knew it.  No awards were coming their way and they knew this as well.  No one was going to take their picture as their hands were shaken and ribbons placed around their necks.  Un unh.  Pats on the backs and words of “Well done!” or “Excellent job” and mostly “I’m so proud of you!” would not be spoken about them.  Getting that one certificate of promotion to the next grade was all that was in their future.

Sigh.

Bruised heart.

Hurting soul.

When do kids lose it?  When do they lose the favor of the ones who brought them into this world?  When did they lose the attention span of the adults who used to hang on their every word, their every achievement as they learned to speak, to walk, to run, to read, to jump, to sing, to learn?  When did mom and dad turn their focus away and basically left the kids to their own devices?  When did the caretakers stop taking care?

Sigh.

Bruised hearts.  Hurting souls.  

Someone used to sing to them “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine.  You make me happy when skies are grey.  You’ll never know, dear, how much I love you.  Please don’t take my sunshine away.”  When did their light stop shining?  When did the parents stop looking for that light and instead choose to live in the dark?

At the start of this blog, I quoted from First Corinthians.  My meme featured a verse about the same topic.  Love.  The title of my blog asks what love has to do with it.  And though it’s been a scattered essay, I leave you with this question:  are you loving today?  Are you truly loving or are you just making noise that you are a good parent, a true friend, a considerate person, or are you just performing when it makes you look good to the world rather than to the one who needs you the most?  Those kids shouldn’t have had to had sad faces and gone home without ribbons around their necks.  They shouldn’t have had to try to find things to amuse themselves with while their friends were being photographed and fawned over.  They didn’t have to maybe collect the awards they did receive and tuck them carelessly in their backpacks to maybe show off later--the next time they got to see mom or dad...whenever that might be.  They didn’t have to not know love.  Their hearts didn’t have to be bruised nor their souls filled with anguish.  They’re just kids!  They didn’t ask to be brought into this world but here they are, waiting to be loved, waiting to be someone’s sunshine.  Let’s not leave them in the dark, friends.  May we all love in deed and in truth is my prayer, my plea, asked in the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.