Love is......

Love is patient, love is kind…

Thus reads 1 Corinthians 13.  It (love)does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

What is true love, then?  It has been said that it is a connection that goes beyond the superficial phase.  It invites

understanding each others’ values and needs.  Going back to 1 Corinthinians, 13, it is not arrogant or rude.  It rejoices with the truth.

Now let us apply ! Corinthians 13 to every day  events:

Watch an elderly couple walking down the street.  They are holding hands.There is a closeness between the two that one cannot see, hear or touch.  We can feel it , yet it Is not physical contact.   It is a feeling, stronger than anything tangible.
Last week, I saw a couple walking down the street.  He  was holding a white cane, obviosly blind as he pushed his cane in front of him, making wide invisible lines on the ground .   He had an air of confidence about him.  It was understandable  because next to him was his wife, holding his other hand tightly, as her  husband plowed forward with his mobility pole stick for the blind.  Love emanated from them.  Walking near them, you could feel it.  
I could feel the love an elderly person had for his or her spouse as they came to my office, a concerned look that held hope that the spouse would ”be OK.”  Love exuded from the worried spouse.  
We see the love in a parent as he/she gazes at a sick child, hoping against hope that the child will  soon be well again.  You could look in their eyes and actually see love for the child.  
The best example lies in the passages of the Savior as he begs us to love as he says in the Gospel of John 13: 34-35:  A new commandment I give to you: that you love one another:  just as I have loved you,  you also are to love one another. 

And lastly, I relate an incident which occurred when I was in the fifth grade.  Someone gave me a pencil.  On it was inscribed, 

       ”Love Conquers All.”

Marguerite Wuebker, MD