Love

I spent today, spending time with a lot of people.  I started my morning out with a beautiful walk down to the bay with two dear friends.  Then I met up with four of Ellee’s teachers for a conference.  Afterwards, I took a nice walk up to Rite Aid with my favorite daughter and we picked up another friend along the way.  Then later in the afternoon, we picked up Sarah and drove up to spend time with Michael.  And then finally, this evening was spent talking and encouraging quite a few different students from our Youth Group.

And I have to admit.  When I got home, I was pretty exhausted.  But over all, I really do love the time that I get to spend with others.  I’m pretty extroverted and love people and generally don’t mind being surrounded by lots of them.

The same was always true for our friend Michael.

Looking back through old pictures, he was always surrounded by a great group of people.

We always loved having him around and he must have been okay with being constantly surrounded by people as well.

A few days ago, I talked with a few of Michael’s really close friends.  And they both shared, that time spent hanging out with Michael was something that they really missed.  They all spent so much time together that it was hard thinking of not having him around these days.

And it made sense.  Because Michael made a great impact on everyone that he came into contact with.  He most certainly loved people and they loved him just as much right back.

When we saw Michael today, he looked good.  But he was still very much recovering from his most recent surgery.  He was resting for most of our visit, and that was totally okay.  Because I’m guessing that resting will mean that he is getting the chance to continue to heal and that this will help to get him ready to hopefully move to rehab by the end of next week.

So I suppose that tonight’s thoughts are just simple ones.  That even though some days may seem overwhelming, that the most important thing that we can do each day is to love others, just as Jesus loved us.  But I suppose that if you really read into the meaning of this verse, it’s not so simple after all.  Because Jesus’ love was incredible and beautiful and full of great sacrifice.  He was always meeting people’s needs and speaking truth into their hearts.  His love was endless and tireless but it helped him to clearly accomplish God’s purpose for his time here on earth.

So tonight (actually today) and in the days to come, let’s love each other.  Let’s continue to show our love and support for Michael and his family with our thoughts and prayers.  Let’s look for the people in our lives that need to know such a beautiful love as Jesus’ love and let’s live it out.  It’s both easy and hard, but what I believe is the very best thing that we can do.