Love

In the essay written by Dr. Fettke he calls us to love. To not worrying so much about whether we can change a person or find a cure necessarily but just loving them for who they are. Spending time with homeless people has helped me gain a better understanding of what it means to love. As a quick overview, every Friday evening a group of students go out and help serve food and fellowship with the homeless people around Parker Street. This last Friday, my roommate and I spent most of the evening with Mary who recently lost her dad. Having read A Grief Observed, and discussed so much about death and darkness in class I thought I would be able to handle a situation like this. But boy was I wrong. As Mary ran her skinny, calloused fingers through her hair and questioned why me, why me I couldn’t help but hold back tears. I wished I had the answers, I wished I could say exactly what she needed to hear but I just couldn’t find the right words. Over and over she would say to us, “it hurts baby, it hurts so much”. She was hurting so much all we could do was be there for her. My roommate and I both loved on her in whatever way we could think of. As she cried and expressed her heart and thoughts we were able to give her a shoulder to cry on. What amazed me even more was how thankful and loving she was towards us. Through her sobs and tears she took time to thank us for being with her, she took the time to share how much she loved us. Here is this lady who is in so much pain and feeling so much anguish due the the death of her father but still finds an opportunity to love us. As Mary strongly embraced my roommate and held my hand tightly, all I could think of was love. This is love, although we may not have had the right answers or the right things to say just being there with her through her darkness was enough. We prayed for Mary before we left and said good bye.

Love is not always about having the right answers or finding a cure but just being there.