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The Greatest of These is Love

It was a strange couple of weeks for my family.  My husband had a systemic blood infection that wasn't easily or readily identified, common as it turned out to be (staphylococcus aureus).    It is a common infection but can be life threatening.  Over the two week period it took to identify it and the week in the hospital subsequent, it became obvious to me that little in life is really necessary.  I was deeply appreciative of the doctors who spent time with our family and my husband during the duration of his illness, the modern medical technology that was used to identify the infection, the dedication of scientists who developed the technology used in our experience, and the organization of the hospital system with which we were involved.  It restored my faith in almost every aspect of "The System."  Our system!   My faith in people, organizations, work and science was renewed.  Faith in "Humankind" in general, restored!

So what things came to mind during my husband's stay in the hospital?  What do we need in life?  It seemed to me that after our basic physical needs are met we only need to feel loved.  Do we feel loved by others?  Do we love others who need our love?  Is every human being appreciated for their very existence and for who they are?  I think that was what Jesus tried to tell/teach us.  Love is our calling in the broadest meaning of the word and through every action we take.  Again, for us, it is in our giving to others that we receive the love to sustain us in return, pretty easy and uncomplicated to implement most of the time.

My husband was lucky.  Children, co-workers, siblings and in-laws came to visit him.  It helped him recover.  He was prayed for.  He felt loved.  We all need love all the time, especially when we're sick or down.  All who visited knew that they were loved back.  Such a holy reciprocity and life sustaining to all parties!

Edie Kalweit has been part of the SJA family since 1977. She loves St. Joan's for the philosophy that we are the same people inside and outside of church. There is no divide between the sacred and the secular in our lives. Edie rejoices that there are so many ministries that take our faith and give it practical reality in the world.
What do I take out of this?  For anyone out there in our society who doesn't feel loved is my/our job to love.  Everyone deserves to be loved.  We are all the children of God.  We are the princesses and princes of our king (God).  Things can go wrong with anyone of us.  They can be made right with love.  Love transforms. That love comes in many forms.  It can be through personal friendship, medical help, psychological counseling, financial help and so on.  We are meant to be a team during life to help each other feel loved and worthy.  Things seem right when we're loved and loving to others. It seemed to me this week that that was God's message to me.  I wanted to share it with you.

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