love

Believe in Love

Backstory

Have you been in love? How do you explain the feelings engendered by the very nearness of your beloved? What mixture of internal chemistry creates those flashes of ecstasy? Those were the questions pondered by this newly smitten, curious but confused scientist.

Believe in Love – #418

I believe in love, always have. I met someone several years ago who had never been in love. Oh, he loved – his nieces and nephews, his parents, and good friends. But he never felt the passion of having someone in his life who mean more to him than life itself.

And then it happened. He found her and they became soulmates. At last, he knew what it was to be in love.

He was a scientist. As he experienced these new feelings, he insisted on understanding what created them. What made him light up when she walked into the room? Why were all standards of beauty now set by her?

His true contentment came when he stopped trying to understand why and allow the feeling to just wash over him, to consume him, to be a part of his very being. He’s a changed man, now that he’s found and accepted love.

I guess I’m glad that I’m not a scientist. I don’t need to understand what makes it feel so good to be in love.

I believe in the sun, even if it isn’t shining, I believe in God even when He is silent, I believe in love even when I’m alone. And those beliefs bring me joy and contentment. I hope they do the same for you.

P.S.

It’s a pleasure to report that twelve years into his love affair, the scientist remains smitten with the woman of his dreams, who is now his wife. Happy Valentine’s Day.

[Show #418]

In a Taxi

Backstory

This is not how I would have presented the concept of patience and love. All the more reason why it resonated so clearly.

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In a Taxi – #184

One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. Well, my taxi driver slammed on his breaks, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches. The driver of that car whipped his head around and started yelling.

My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy, and I mean he was really friendly. So, I asked, “Why did you just do that? That guy almost ruined your taxi and sent us to the hospital.”

Well, the cab driver explained he was following the “Law of the Garbage Truck.” He said that many people are like human garbage trucks. Their internal garbage is frustration, anger, disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it, and sometimes they dump it on you.

His advice – Don’t take it personally. Smile, wave, wish them well and move on. Don’t let their garbage become the garbage that you internalize or spread.

Happy people do not let someone else’s garbage take over their day. Love the people who treat you right and pray for those who don’t.

Something to consider!

P.S.

Mouths of babes are not the only place where wisdom can be found. Listen closely and you’ll hear lessons and love, even from a rear view mirror.

[Show #184]

Daily Miracles of Love

Backstory

I was at the height of my career. In demand. Lots of travel, awards, attention. Then I’d return to our simple, quiet farmhouse in rural Virginia. No glitz, no spotlights. He wondered if it was enough.

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Daily Miracles – #015

We were sitting on the porch, watching the early evening clouds change colors as sunset approached. He turned to me and asked, “Do you enjoy sitting here quietly just taking it all in?”

He referred to the mountains that rose from the other side of the road, the flowers and the swaying trees, the birds, twittering happily in the evening shadows.

“Sometimes I wonder if this is too staid for you,” he added.

How could I possibly express to him all it meant to sit next to him and take in the daily miracles that so often go unnoticed in our hurried world. To hear the sounds of nature instead of the ringing of the house phone, the office phone, the cell phone.

To sit here knowing this is the final destination of the day. No more need to wedge my way into the traffic and claim my share of blacktop to get me home. The most peaceful time of day when my heart sings and my hand touching his is divinely intimate. It is the essence of every love song.

“This is my favorite part,” I shared softly, tears of joy gathering in my eyes. And I believe he understood everything expressed by those few little words.

P.S.

To have career satisfaction and at home, a soft place to land. A huge blessing found by many here in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.

[Show #15]

Great Love

Backstory

I can remember the day I turned to God, begging Him to give me a sign about which way I should go. I was facing a big decision with seriously conflicting pros and cons. I heard a voice in my heart reassuring me and promising, “When it’s right, you will know.” And I did.

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Great Love – #164

Its been said that great love and great achievement both require a great risk. Certainly true. When you love greatly, you are most vulnerable. Your heart is open to joy and also heart break. Who knows which it will be? But as someone once dear to me said, “I would not have wanted to miss the dance.” Well, that too requires opening yourself to scrutiny.

Consider what the candidates went through in the recent election campaigns. How many of us would be willing to put our entire life’s history on the line for interpretation by anyone who wants to voice an opinion. It takes courage and determination, to say nothing of the risk that it may be, all for naught if you’re not chosen.

Do you have the courage to take great risks? The payoff could be great love or great achievement.

P.S.

When it turns out you made the right decision, be sure to appreciate the outcome. Don’t ever take it for granted. Treasure it each day and give thanks for the gift of wisdom that guided your decision. And if it does not work out, have the courage to make a change again. This time too, the outcome could be great love or great achievement.

[Show #164]

What Are You Waiting For?

Backstory

It didn’t happen just like that. There was a lot leading up to it. Joan had been in the presence of my fiancé and me for years – on vacations, on outings and at home. She was a careful observer. Now, it turns out, she was about to become a tentative adviser as well.

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What Are You Waiting For? – #639

What are you waiting for? That’s what Joan asked me. She had sat me down and said we had to have a serious talk. Bill and I had been engaged for some eight years. When I accepted his engagement ring, we both considered ourselves committed, one to the other. And that was that.

But Joan, who had been married for decades, pointed out that there is a difference.

She pointed out that my fiancé had never been married. She believed he would thrive in the status of being husband to a wife he loved. She wisely pointed out that we were not getting any younger. But I just saw no need for a big event and a lot of hoopla and spending money and bothering people to come together to celebrate. At our age, it seemed anti-climactic.

That’s when she took my hand and gave me her best advice. She said, “You are talking about the wedding. I am talking about being married. It’s two very different things.”

She pointed out that every day that passed was a day that we were not enjoying the definitive commitment, the ultimate allegiance. She said we owed it to each other to experience that. She strongly advised that I allow Bill to put the other ring on it.

I took to heart, everything she said. And decided she was right.

P.S.

Joan had said that seeing Bill happily married was on her bucket list – something she wanted to see happen before her time was up. She had known him for some 30 years. Long before I was on the scene. She was so pleased to check that off her bucket list. Another item on the list was a trip to Tuscany. She marked that one off too. She died in her sleep, the day after her return.

[Show #639]

One Gift

Backstory – One Gift

We were talking about beauty. Standard wisdom is that beauty fades. Actually, it depends on what you consider beautiful. And that depends on whether your eyes are on something or someone who is loved or simply seen. This story was the result of that reflection.

Consider This Show – One Gift

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To Whom Are You Beautiful? – #458

I heard a wife tell her husband, “If I could give you one gift in life, I would give you the ability to see yourself through my eyes. Only then would you realize how special you are to me.”

It truly is a gift to be seen through the eyes of love. We are beautiful, in the eyes of those who love us. And if we’re lucky, that person tells us often how much we are loved and cherished, and how beautiful we are – man or woman.

I so enjoy when you can see, just by looking at them, how much a couple care about each other. It is particularly true when they have been together for a long time.

At a recent community meeting, someone announced that a couple was celebrating their 45^th wedding anniversary. The husband stood up and added, “And I am still in love with her!” The spontaneous announcement was so touching, as his bride blushed at the public attention.

But he didn’t even need to say it out loud. You could tell by the loving way he treated her, that she was still that beautiful, flirtatious young woman who had captured his heart so many decades ago. That’s what HE saw when he looked at her, regardless of the whitened hair and wobbly knees that had become today’s reality.

To see them together was to believe in love all over again.

[Show #458]