Show Me the Love!
One of the joys of being a grandparent is being able to look at your grandchildren through the eyes of love. You have done all of the hard work in raising their parents, and now you get to just bask in the delight of pure love between grandparent and grandchild. Nothing is better than seeing a child’s face light up when you walk into the room, most often followed by the exclamation PAPA! And running feet headed your way. In that moment, in that relationship there is pure joy. Sure, there will be time to worry, time to be concerned, time for correction (but that is mostly the parent’s task), but in that moment there is complete love and acceptance (and sometimes ice cream).
The sad thing is that grandchildren don’t stay small. It is not long before they are too old to run into your arms and delight just in the fact that you are together. Things like school, homework, friends, jobs, learning to drive, boyfriends or girlfriends seem to fight for their own place in their hearts. The love is still there, but it is manifested in a completely different way. We call it growing up, but sometimes it is growing apart.
It is amazing and interesting to see this family bond, this love of kinship, spark back to life when things get hard, when tragedy strikes, or loss is eminent. We have seen this time and time again over the past two years. People who have forgotten that they are family, forgotten about this love, are miraculously drawn together in unity against whatever is threatening the family. I even heard one person explain “we may fight like cats and dogs, but in the end, we are family, and that love is stronger than anything.”
Jesus was giving His followers some final instructions before returning to His father. Remarkably, he talks to them about love. In John 13:34–35 (NLT) he says to them “So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”
These words are foreign to His followers as they have not yet experienced the depth of His sacrificial love. They do not know that he will lay down His life for them, and the restoration of their relationship with God. Nevertheless, He says, “Just as I have loved…you should love.” That love will be the ultimate testimony of a relationship with Him, as family. This reminds me of a song we used to sing long ago when I was a teen. The chorus said “They will know we are Christians by our love.” So, where is the love? Is it showing? Is it showing you belong to Christ?
Go ahead, show me the love!!