Month of Love

February. Ah...the month of love. The much-anticipated month for those freshly dating...planning Valentine picnics and surprise flowers...giving chocolates and kisses to those for whom our hearts go pitter-patter. The month during which stores hang pink, red, purple hearts and offer plush wonders that must mean romance. February.
This February was definitely about love for our family. On January 7th, I had a hysterectomy. It was the old-fashioned kind ending with 14 staples in my abdomen and a 6 to 8 week recovery (and for those of you doing the math, I'm on week 7 today). The love shown to me during this time was overwhelming...it was the love of Christ. My church family made sure we had a warm (and often home cooked) meal on our doorstep every single night...sometimes we had two meals show up simply because, although someone hadn't signed up to bring us something, they'd been thinking of us that day and wanted to show they cared. In addition to this, my mother came to stay with us for a few weeks. She was amazing. She is the kind of person who can serve you in every way you need without having to be asked and without you even knowing she's done it!
Mom planned to stay with me the full six weeks to help out with our children and the housework...but Dad got sick. Dad just hadn't been feeling well and finally went to the doctor. They thought he had a pinched nerve in his back (sciatic nerve - ouch!) so he had an MRI. The MRI showed cancer. Mom went right home. The love she showed me was a totally different kind of love than what she has for my father. She married him at the age of 17 and feels just as bound to him today as she did then.
The cancer turned out to be small cell lung cancer...the very scary kind that travels fast and is not easy to fight. It is in his lungs, of course, but also his liver, his bones, and in his brain. The love I feel for my father...for my mother...for my brothers and sister has come crashing into reality for me this month. And the example of love between my parents is beyond anything that could come wrapped in a heart-shaped package.
Love is patient. It waits for God's will instead of medical test results. Love is kind. It soothes where there is hurt and pays no attention to awkwardness during illness. Love does not envy. It doesn't look around at all the healthy people and think that life is unfair. Love does not boast. Even though it knows the best way and has eternal peace, there is no boasting. Love is not proud. For what happens to us could happen to anyone and the wisdom given to us is also shared amongst others. Love is not rude. Even when exhausted and at the end of one's rope, there is no rudeness. Love is not self-seeking. When one close to us lays hurting, it is not for us that we pray, but for their peace. Love is not easily angered. There are too many things to count pure joy to let anger enter love's being. Love keeps no record of wrongs. At the end of the day, wrongs are not what matters. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth...and what other truth is there than God!? Love ALWAYS protects, ALWAYS trusts, ALWAYS hopes, ALWAYS perseveres. It matters not what Satan throws in our way. Love NEVER fails!
My mother loves my father. This is the best Valentine's I've ever experienced.
I pray that all of you know such love.