I was reading bedtime books to some of the dear children in my life on Thursday, and was surprised by the wisdom I found in a Clifford story. As a puppy, Clifford kept hearing people using the word "love" in different contexts but was trying to figure out what it meant. "I love you" - "I love playing with you" - "I love when people fill my food bowl" - what was this thing called love? But by the end, as his owner/best friend Emily Elizabeth is holding him and scratching him under the chin, she says "I love you, Clifford" - and he realizes, love is this happy feeling of being with people who care about you.
It's true, and I've felt that a lot lately. The last few days I've been surrounded by the important people in my life, and have felt so loved as dear friends celebrated my birthday in so many wonderful ways. Love is revealing and celebrating the beauty we see in eachother. Love is talking and listening to the deep things on our hearts. Love is simply being together, not needing words at all. Love is laughing until our stomachs hurt - and then laughing some more.
Love isn't only happy feelings, though. Love is being there in the hurts and heartbreaks, sharing the tears and trials that life brings. Love is carrying those things for eachother and with eachother - things that we cannot fix, but that we can bring to Jesus together. Love is caring for one another even when we don't know how.
Love is being there - sharing in the joys and the sorrows and everything in between. We all have our highs and lows, our excitements and frustrations. We won't feel good all the time - but part of the beauty of community is coming together with our conglomeration of feelings and experiences (good and bad) and being real with eachother, even when it's not pretty. In doing so, we allow eachother to enter in and be Jesus to us. And that is the best gift of all.
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