“Love is a variety of different feelings,
states, and attitudes that ranges from interpersonal affection
(‘I love my mother’) to pleasure (‘I loved that meal’). It can refer to an emotion
of a strong attraction and personal attachment.” [Taken from the Oxford and Miriam-Webster
Dictionaries.]
Each
year, as Valentine’s Day approaches, we wax nostalgic with ideas of romance and
feelings of affection towards that “special someone”. We think about what we can do to show them
how much we love them. We make plans to
go out to a movie, go dancing, or go to a special restaurant for dinner. Some people buy flowers and candy to give to
their loved one, and there are cards galore to choose an appropriate sentiment
to express just how we feel. Each year
we think about love this way. I would
like to challenge us to view it just a bit differently this year.
“Love can also be a virtue
representing human kindness, compassion, and affection—"the unselfish loyal and
benevolent concern for the good of another". It may also describe
compassionate and affectionate actions towards other humans, one's self or
animals.” [From Miriam-Webster Dictionary and Erich Fromm’s ‘The Art Of Loving’,
Harper Perennial (1956)]
LOVE
IS…a woman who, when her 6-year-old son was hit by shrapnel in Mosul, Iraq,
tried to care for her son in her home but as he grew worse she picked him up and ran with him in her
arms. She did not get far when she was
shot by a sniper. “They shot me, but I
kept on going until I couldn’t breathe anymore.
When I couldn’t run, I crawled.”
She finally made it to the Iraqi Army and was taken by ambulance to the
Samaritan’s Purse Emergency Field Hospital in the Plains of Nineveh.
LOVE
IS…the surgeons, nurses, and all other Emergency Field Hospital staff who serve
in war-torn Iraq, voluntarily risking their lives to physically treat
critically wounded individuals in the Iraq/ISIS conflict like that woman and
6-year-old son, Iraqi soldiers, and even enemy combatants, as well as share the
love of Jesus with each one they treat.
LOVE
IS…you and I (those of us unable to go to help at the Emergency Field Hospital)
reaching out over the miles to pray for the Emergency Field Hospital and its
staff on a daily basis for their strength, safety, and boldness to witness in a
country where such sharing puts their lives in danger.
LOVE
IS…your obedience to the Lord to give what you can of financial support and ‘in-kind’
donations to enable Samaritan’s Purse to set up and run such hospitals.
For more
information on how YOU can show what LOVE IS go to: https://www.samaritanspurse.org/article/airlift-brings-supplies-to-emergency-field-hospital-in-iraq/
