LOVE'S EMBRACE

For years dad would go and buy a big box of chocolates for me at Vanentine's and he was thrilled to be able to do it. This year I had a craving for a heart-shaped cookie so we drove down to Choices to pick up a few. They bring back so many memories for me of baking cookies and decorating them with the children. I made dad a lemon pie to express my love so our lives change in the way we express love and appreciation to those we love.

The first blessing of Valentine's came when a card from our daughter Sandra arrived expressing words of thank you and saying I love you. We are very blessed too to have good relations with those in our family and to be able to say "I love You" and mean it with all our heart.



In Hebrew the word chesed which we translate as love has the meaning of loving-kindness. The Torah states that "His chesed [loving-kindness] endures forever. This world was created with love and is now sustained every moment even when we are not aware of it. God's love has us conquer our fears and comforsts us in times of grief and sorrow. We are all weak and it is easy to lose that "loving feeling" because we make mistakes and as the Bible says we fall from grace.

Words are meamingful when followed by actions. My parents did not express love in words but in their caring love for my brother and I. Both my parents spoke with love about their parents which was such a blessing to me.

Love can be a powerful emotion, a deep longing to be a part of some one else's life. We all want to be loved.

"Life is a sailboat on the water. Love is the wind. The ruder is the mind. Sometimes when you have just the wind, you'll crash. And yet without the wind you won't go anywhere. You need both."

"Without love, life would be vacant. Your heart would not exist. Love is that yearning that is not of this world. And yet it fills the space. Nothing else makes sense."
These quotes are from the book -How The World Makes Love" byFranz Wisner.


Love starts within and like the wind we cannot see we can feel it. That love within grows as we take risks and reach out to love others. Love grows when we are willing to forgive and forget
Love the whole world agrees is committment, compromise and understanding. Faith, family and friends have supported me and strengthened me. Love is not easy in this world where there is so much unfairness and strife so love calls us to work and put effort in to being loving. As I near the end of my journey with a loving husband I have seen both of us learn to love even the hidden personality traits that cause us annoyance. We still have to learn to express our true feelings. Sometimes it is like the story expressed in the book, "The Business of Marriage and Medals". Jeff Pain was the athelet training in the bob sled and the skeleton races so he could be in the Olymic games. They endured tough times when money was scarce and Aly spend many hours alone feeling abandoned. Now they have writen a book together and have learned to see the struggles that the other one had to endure. They have a story to tell that can apply to any marriage that is willing to put energy into their relationship and to be survivors when the road gets bumpy. Dad and I are now great-grandparents and do not look at all like the young couple that many years ago said "I do". Beauty is fleeting but love that endures is beautiful.

Love changes the direction of our lives and even some of our dreams.