Not an Adjective, not a Noun, but a Verb

I believe love is not just a feeling or a deep emotion; I believe love is a verb. Love is not meant just to be said or just thought. Using the word ‘love’ comes easy. I know I use it hundreds of times a day to describe anything: ‘I love this book’, ‘I love chocolate’ or even at this time of the year, ‘I love summer.’ But love is so much more than that. It doesn’t mean much today when the word ‘love’ is used carelessly for such trivial things in life. How can loving minor things like chocolate and summer even compared with saying ‘I love him’ or ‘I love my wife’? Anyone can say they truly love someone, but how much more would love mean if it was not used so superficially today? The way people use love and see love as only sexually portrayed in soap operas, songs, and books is not really what love is about. The love that matters is the unfathomable adoration shown and received among you and people around you who care about you.

I once witnessed real love on a two week stay in an orphanage in Jamaica. The children living there were born poor, uneducated, and abandoned, unwanted, or separated with families who could not put food in their mouths. After staying there for two weeks I was dirty and dehydrated. I wondered, “How can people live like this? How can I ever live my life from this point forward and not be disgusted with the silly things I have and complain about, when I have seen these unfortunate kids? I will never be the same.” I thought not having any running water and constant food supply was horrible, but these children were the happiest children in the world even in the midst of all their pain. They didn’t need all of our material goods, like tv, computers, good grades and even perfect hygiene to look beautiful and have people look on them with love; they had an inner beauty that meant more than any of their physical features ever could. They knew they were loved, and in return they gave this love to me every day.

A little eight year old girl that I became very close to was sitting on my lap, riding to the beach when she smiled at me and gave me a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. Later in the week she drew me a picture of Jesus and wrote ‘Love, Shanice’ on it in big yellow letters. Shanice never once directly told me she loved me, but through her actions and the huge smile on her face, I could feel the love she felt, the love she wanted to share with me.

I decided to thank the children for sharing their love with me by handing out stuffed lambs. They kids were all so thankful to have their own little lamb to love and hold when they wanted it most. I gave out the thirty lambs; the girls were so excited they posed with the lambs for pictures, and the boys hid a smile, trying not to show how much they liked them. After a few hours I saw the boys and girls playing with the lambs together, pushing the lambs down the slide, and even buckling them into the red wagon.

I knew that I had shown love to these kids, and I felt better than anytime I had just told someone I loved them because I gave love away, and used love not as a noun or adjective to describe my feelings, but as a verb. I believe it’s important to show love everyday and receive it because I believe love is more than a word; it’s an action.