Thoughts from here and There…Learning to say I Love You!
I had the fortunate experience to conduct worship on the first Thursday of the month at Greenway Manor. Greenway Manor is a skilled nursing facility in Spring Green Wisconsin.
It was a challenge to find material that will interest the residents. I thought it might be beneficial to speak about love
Christina Rossetti’s poem. Love Came Down at Christmas made a deep and lasting impression me. I had used it for a Christmas Eve Service and used it at Greenway
Love came down at Christmas,
Love all lovely, love divine;
Love was born at Christmas,
Star and angels gave the sign.
Worship we the Godhead,
Love incarnate, love divine;
Worship we our Jesus:
But wherewith for sacred sign?
Love shall be our token,
Love shall be yours and love be mine,
Love to God and to all men,
Love for plea and gift and sign.
What was impressed on me is that without love coming down at Christmas, I would not love, nor know how to love, nor would any one else.
For the Writer’s Almanac of December 22, 2009, Garrison Keillor read “Susanna” by Anne Porter, from Living Things: Collected Poems.
It is a beautiful poem that also emphasizes love. I quote it here because of the depth of meaning that it communicates.
Nobody in the hospital
Could tell the age
Of the old woman who
Was called Susanna
I knew she spoke some English
And that she was an immigrant
Out of a little country
Trampled by armies
Because she had no visitors
I would stop by to see her
But she was always sleeping
All I could do
Was to get out her comb
And carefully untangle
The tangles in her hair
One day I was beside her
When she woke up
Opening small dark eyes
Of a surprising clearness
She looked at me and said
You want to know the truth?
I answered Yes
She said it’s something that
My mother told me
There’s not a single inch
Of our whole body
That the Lord does not love
She then went back to sleep.
There is not a single inch of our whole body that the Lord does not love. The old woman went back to sleep. She could sleep the sleep of deep peace because she recognized that she was loved.
Some people find it hard to say “I love you.” I do not. I met a friend of the family at our Christmas dinner. I told him that we were a huging people. He reached over and gave me a hug, and I said, “I love you.” He appeared to be startled by my action. We are also a family that freely says, “I love you.”
Love is one of the major themes promoted during February. What the world calls love is not what God calls love. Love comes down at Christmas. This is love.
With sincere practice it is not hard to say “I love you.”