Last week, I diverged from my normal ‘2 choices for breakfast’ routine and made scones for breakfast.

I love scones – despite the work they take to make. And I knew my kids would love them too.

Except that halfway into breakfast when I felt like a parrot repeating, “Take a bite. Take a bite. Take a bite.” and then looked over to see scone all over the chair and floor, I began to regret making scones for them – so much so that I launched into a speech about how I was trying to do something special for them and they didn’t even appreciate it, but smeared crumbs all over the place instead.

Later that morning, the kids and I joined Daddy for a hospital visit.

The wait was fairly long and we weren’t able to take our kids back, so Jonathan and I took turns going back to see our friend.

The lady we went to see has MS and is confined to a wheelchair. As I stood there with her and her husband, they shared stories of their lives together.

“He’s such a help and does everything for me,” and then she added, “but he doesn’t like to wash dishes.”

Of course, the comment brought out more stories and laughter.

He told me about the day she lost the ability to pivot and what a game changer that’s been for them. The different techniques they’ve found that work for them in the little things of life – laundry, cooking, getting in & out of bed and her wheelchair, etc.

And I thought to myself, “This is true love.”

Because True love is sacrifice.
It’s about giving up yourself and your resources to meet someone else’s need. Whether or not they are thankful.

True love is dirty.
Sometimes love looks pretty on the outside, but underneath true love you’ll find that it took the dirty work of saying no to yourself so you could say yes to someone else. Denying yourself. Sound familiar? Because Jesus said it first.

True love is Jesus.
God is love. He equals love. He showed love before anyone else. True love is the Gospel. It is Jesus, giving Himself for me even though there wasn’t a shred of thankfulness or goodness in me.

As I stood in the hospital with my friends, I prayed with them and thanked God for His immeasurable grace.
The grace that saved my truly wretched soul. The same grace that is so evident and overflowing with love in their marriage.

The love that runs deep and strong because it’s from the Omnipotent One. The love that never ends because it’s from Him who is eternal.
That’s the kind of love I want to give.

It’s only possible to love like that when you’ve experienced the love that comes from knowing the God Who is Love. Do you know Him?