We Are Love
I had started writing this blog post and then it abruptly changed courses into what it is now.
Last Saturday morning, the state of Kentucky and eventually the rest of the country, woke up to the most devastating news. As I scrolled through my social media, the pictures were heart wrenching. Just an unbelievable and unimaginable scene. The storms that rolled through were much more severe in western Kentucky. A tornado decimated an entire town—left nothing to spare. It took more lives than it should have. As of today, they are still searching for people who are unaccounted for. Can you imagine waking up to absolutely nothing? All you have are the clothes on your back, if you're lucky? I can't. It's hard to fathom. Yet thousands of people experienced that. What do you do? How do you help?
You help with love. We help with love.
When we think about love—almost always our thoughts immediately focus on intimate relationships with a spouse or significant other. And while that's certainly love, we cannot dismiss the fact that love is abundant in all aspects of life and relationships. I believe love in its purest form is kindness. And kindness is such a simple thing. If you're expressing kindness, you are conveying love. Think about all the ways you love now. It's much more than you thought, huh?
As we continue to navigate this pandemic, which has already caused a huge strain and political divide among friends and family—it's been hard to see and feel the love of others. It's been hard to show kindness and love. It seems as if we have more shame and criticism to offer than anything else. We lost touch of what it means to truly love one another. Why?
I did see all of that change in the matter of hours, however. In a time of grave need and absolute devastation, I witnessed love. Our friends in western Kentucky need love, more than anything else right now. And they are receiving it daily. It is coming from every walk of life. It is coming en masse with no hesitation. It is coming with open arms. It is coming in the form of manpower, monetary donations, food, water, clothing, supplies and prayers!
As truck after truck is being loaded up daily with supplies and store shelves are emptying faster than they were during the pandemic hysteria last year—no one is asking who you voted for or if you're vaxxed or not, or what your thoughts are on COVID. None of that matters. We have all just come together as one to shower our WKY neighbors with love. It's truly been heartfelt to see this. Kindness and love are not obsolete, they have just remained dormant, for the most part.
I find myself asking why. Why does it take a tragic event? Why does it take something so devastating before we show our love to others? What exactly is it? Have we not realized that love starts and ends with us? We are love. It doesn't exist without us. We have all made the conscious decision to love our friends in WKY, to show them kindness and give support as they navigate this unfathomable hardship. This outpouring of love has been unmatched. It's incredible. My hope is for this love and support and kindness to continue.
Let's not wait for the next tragedy. There's no need to store up our love, or save it for the next catastrophic event. We have plenty of it to give. What if we gave a little bit of it each day? Every person we interact with should feel our love and kindness. It's so easy to express kindness. Why don't we do it more often?
With Christmas a little more than a week away and the new year fast approaching, I hope each of us can find a few moments to reflect on our lives the past year. Were we kind enough? Did we show others enough love? Could we have done better? Maybe a resolution for next year can be to show love and kindness more often. We are love and the only way it spreads is through us. Find love in your heart and then share it with others. We need so much of it!
“We love because God first loved us.” —1 John 4:19