TO LIVE IS TO LOVE (Part 1) #InTheseTimes

When my paternal grandmother was alive, we looked forward to her visits, which she did quite often enough. Her presence exuded an extreme sense of calmness and happiness. 

She was full of life. I loved listening to her bedtime stories. What about the goodies she brought along? I miss them!
She had this contagious smile that melted our hearts towards her. She would plant kisses on our foreheads several times a day! 

We loved having her around, so we looked forward to her next visit. She would say it was because of us that she was still alive. I wondered what that meant back then. But I now understand that giving love and receiving it sustains human existence.

To live is to love, to love is to live. Loving people genuinely is a selfless act. My grandmother loved us without expecting anything in return. How I pray for such a heart.
I remember my father visited her on few occasions too. When she died, it felt like she took a part of me along. Everyone missed her.
My father seemed to miss her the most. He told me later that he wished he had shown her as much love as she did to him and his family.

He narrated that his dad, my grandfather, disowned him when he became a Christian. That made him distant from home. But his mother still loved him and reached out to him occasionally.
This upset her husband and cause a rift in their home repeatedly.

While she couldn’t do much when her husband was alive, when he died she felt obligated to visit my dad more than her other children. I was so touched when I heard this.
She really did a good job of restoring the lost years. She loved like there was never a reason to hate. Charity indeed bears no grudge.

She showed love to everyone around her. Her neighbors also gave eulogies about her.
She indeed obeyed the scripture that says, “Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;” (Romans 12:10).

Did I mention that she got converted during one of her visits to us? This increased her affection for everyone, and she displayed it with selfless acts of service.
I believe we can love everyone, no matter who they are. We can make people know they are special in many ways.
Showing love to our family members and friends is particularly one of the easiest. We can choose a spouse but we can’t choose the family we are born into.

1 John 4:7 enjoins us-
“Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.”
It says further in verse 12
“No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.”

Love is God’s way of showing Himself to man through man. If we claim to love God whom we don’t see, we can equally love men who we see.

“And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.” 1 Peter 4:8

It is Christ’s desire that we show more care and affection towards others, especially our family and friends. Show the love you want to receive. Be the reason others smile.