Love is Giving of Self

A few years back, I was at a board meeting of the charity which cared for developmentally disabled adults.  When I arrived, I chose to sit next to one of the people being cared for, who was invited to the meeting albeit she often couldn’t grasp what was being discussed.  During the meeting, I tried to explain some things to her ---- but afterward, she explained something more important to me.  I was talking to another board member when I noticed her waiting to speak to me, so I turned to her, but before I could explain anything she hugged me tightly and said: “Thank you so much for sitting next to me tonight.”  Stunned, I remember feeling that her words and actions came from within her heart.  And I felt loved.

Today was a snowy day.  I skipped the early morning men’s meeting, but did go to mass.  The plows and salt trucks seemed to do a good job of cleaning roads, but I still worried about my grocery delivery this afternoon.  Hundreds of needy families drive up each Thursday afternoon to pick up a trunk load of needed free food, but there are a few families or individuals who cannot drive, and I am one of the delivery persons who take the food to them.  Dave lives a half hour away, in a trailer.  His mother was handicapped in a wheelchair, so when I first began deliveries there, I walked up a steel wheelchair ramp to the door to deliver them to her, and her son.  She died, and Dave now lives alone and he looks forward to my deliveries.  Last week an ice storm made the trailer’s steel ramp extremely slippery, and this week I worried about all the snow.  But to my surprise, when I drove up the ramp was totally cleared of snow, and Dave was standing just inside the door waiting for my arrival.  When I got there with the grocery card of food, he opened the door and with a huge smile said: “Tom, I shoveled all the snow, and then I put down lots of salt.  I wanted to make sure you didn’t slip or fall.”  And he almost glowed as I thanked him.  His huge smile showed that this was something special for him, both the work that he had done so well, all by himself --- and me, and my appreciation of his work.  He didn’t hug me, but I can’t describe the warmth I felt, as I held back tears at his happiness.  And then, as I backed out of his drive, a bright sun broke through the wintery clouds, and for a few minutes shined in my face.  And yes, I felt loved.

Real love is a total giving of yourself to the other person.  To you, they are the most important person on earth.  That’s what Jesus thought of us, as He died for us.  He gave all He could give.  That’s what the woman at the board meeting did; that’s what Dave did.  It’s humbling to receive such love, and challenging to love that way, to see the immense value of each person, as Jesus did.