Love makes all the difference...

Kids are just creative, ya know? You can simply give them some art supplies, free reign, and away they'll go! So when I attempted explaining Valentine's Day to my girls a couple of weeks ago and told them we were going to make valentines, you can imagine that the concept wasn't so clear. But by just giving them all the necessary items for a good valentine: construction paper, cut-out hearts, stickers, valentines sent from the States, glue, markers, and crayons, they went to work with their wonderful, creative minds and created some of the most lovely valentines I've ever seen.

So I know this post is coming a bit late, but hey, better late than never, right? I just couldn't help but post them after I finally got the pictures on my computer...

Do they look happy? Do they look loved? Do they look like they know they're loved?

I would say so.

Over the last couple of years, as God has given me more opportunities to work with the underprivileged and forgotten of this world, He has been especially teaching me what a difference love makes.

Love is one of those words that our society has come to use so flippantly. I love ice cream. I love sunshine. I love music. We love everything. We've even created a holiday centered around love. But love is a word that has the potential to have so much meaning behind it especially when its met with action. There's a phrase that I remember reading on a ND calendar last summer (2010) that says:

"Love makes a difference. Love paints smiles on previously sad faces. Love brightens eyes with unmistakeable sparkle, and the sound of love's laughter is the sound of pure joy."

Read that one more time...how true is it? As I look around me, I see the sights and sounds of love. Whether its the hugs that I receive when I come up the stairs to my apartment, the smiles I see on my girls faces, or the love songs that they sing to Jesus, love is all around. I believe that these girls know they are loved, and I honestly believe that it has and will continue to make a difference in their lives. Their faces have smiles painted on them. Their eyes are bright with an unmistakeable sparkle. And their laughter, o how sweet it is, is the sound of pure joy.

Love only makes a difference in their lives because there is action behind it. Think about it. How do you know that you're loved? Its not because someone declared their love to you (though that helps); its because someone showed it to you. Someone took the time to listen to you, to laugh with you, to cry with you. They showed up when you needed them the most. They cared for you when you didn't deserve it. 

My girls know they're loved because someone cares for them. This knowledge all started when someone took the time to rescue them from a love-less institution and promised to provide for them. They know when they play games with their nannies. They know when someone takes the time to care about their school by helping them with their homework or going and meeting with their teachers. And they also know when someone tucks them into bed at night and reminds them with a hug and a kiss on the forehead that they're safe and so dearly treasured. All these things and more are how they know. And all of it is what continues to help them daily grow and blossom in the beautiful, lovely little girls that their Heavenly Father created them to be.

So daily I must ask myself if I'm loving well. Am I loving these girls and all the people in my life, both near and far away, the way that my God so perfectly loves me? Am I loving in a way that makes a difference in the lives of those around me?

Too many days I fall short of loving the way I should. But yet, I can't forget how important it is to never quit loving because I've seen what it can do. So I ask that you would pray for me. Pray that I would continue to know how to love these girls. And pray especially, that they would know they are loved. Pray that this love would continue to bring smiles to their faces and joy to their hearts.

And for all of us, may God grant us the wisdom to know how to love. May today be a day that you know that you are so dearly loved. May you never forget the ultimate act of love and sacrifice done for you by your Lord so long ago. And may we seek out the unlovely and forgotten people of this world and pour out love on them whether we think they deserve it or not. May we look to our Savior as an example of love and see this world through His compassionate, loving eyes. And may our love paint smiles, brighten eyes, and be the sound of joy because its the only thing that can truly make a difference...