Cards on my window sill

This morning as I made coffee, I stood and studied each of the dozen or so cards on my window sill. These cards represent the compassion and best wishes of the people who had sent them. Each bore a sentiment that was meaningful to the sender and meant as a special message of encouragement to me in my "dance" with cancer.

These cards and the emails that I receive are a daily reminder to me of the power of love. John the Elder is quoted as:

"God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God,
and God in him"

Probably the most quoted scripture used in weddings regarding love is from the Apostle Paul in Corinthians 13:4-7

"Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Pastor Mark teaches me that the Greeks had at least five words for love.

Each had a very distinct and different meaning.

The Wikipedia provides the definitions of these words at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_words_for_love

I have certainly experienced all of these feelings. Of these, Agape is what the passages above are are describing. I know it when I feel it and I know it when I don't. It is a gift. Agape allows us and compels us to feel and behave with compassion towards others. To behave selflessly, even anonymously. Love takes us out of ourselves.

I have been to the slums of Juarez, Mexico with some of the young folks and others at my church to build homes for the homeless there. This experience drove home for me the power of Love.

Thank you for the Love you have showered me. You have helped.