Feb 13 2009
Spirit of love
You will find as you look back upon your life
that the moments when you have really lived,
are the moments when you have done things
in a spirit of love.
Henry Drummond
The essence of Valentine’s Day is love . . .
only a part of it is romance.
One of the many aspects of love and
most beautiful is giving in the spirit of love.
That is what Valentines Day means to me.
It is giving . . . not of material things necessarily.
One of my fondest memories of childhood was exchanging and sharing Valentine Cards with my schoolmates. We all came to school with our little bags of colorful “Be My Valentine” wishes . . . one of my first recollections of giving and sharing associated with love, not romance . . . that was the spirit of love.
I’ll never forget what someone did for me when JR died . . . and to this day I don’t know who did this sweet thing for me. I asked everyone I knew . . . they obviously wanted to remain anonymous. Every day without fail for the longest time, someone left freshly cut flowers at my door. It didn’t matter where it came from . . . it was the most awesome random act of kindness I have ever experienced. In those dark days, the flowers and what they meant to me was just about the only thing that would bring a smile to my face. That was the spirit of love . . . unselfish compassion for someone hurting, in need of a smile and knowing that someone cared.
Simple things . . . like cutting an elderly neighbor’s grass or cooking a meal for them, just because . . . most seniors are on a fixed income and little things add up monetarily.
In the spirit of love, do something nice for someone less fortunate than yourself . . . not just for Valentines Day.
Do you recollect your fondest “spirit of love” moments?
I love it when my patients thank me and smile! To get that smile on their face, i’ll do whatever it takes
… Besides that, I can’t really think much… i’m still young .. haha!
One of the greatest joys in life is having a fulfilling and satisfying job!
An awesome doctor has the “spirit of love” that you possess . . . and it makes a huge difference to a patient . . . no wonder they are smiling.
(I’ve had the other type of doctor who could care less . . . just give me the money, they say.)
awwww Susan . . . you loved that day as I did
It is very cool how you have passed the “Spirit of Valentine” tradition on to your children.
Happy Valentines Day with lots of love to you too Lily Rose . . . thank you for visiting my blog
I love your graphics. That’s precious that some left you fresh flowers on your doorstep after your husband died. Such a lovely unselfish act of kindness. I remember passing out Valentine’s Day cards also. I kept them for the longest time. I wish I still had them.
Thanks for droppin’ by my blog and commenting.
Happy Valentine’s Day and God bless.
What a marvelous post for Valentine’s Day. My mother schooled me well in doing good for others without expecting anything in return - in fact, she always manages to make it seem as if her beneficiary is doing her a favor by letting her help. When I was in my teens, she delivered the morning newspaper to make extra money for my school tuition. There was an elderly woman on her paper route who always met her at the door with a home-baked muffin or a hot cup of tea. When my mother realized that Mrs. Willoughby’s only son never came to visit, she started dropping in on her during the day. Before long, she was taking my brothers over once in a while to mow the lawn and trim the bushes, and taking Mrs. Willoughby grocery shopping and doing other things for her. One night, my dad made a comment about how much my mother was doing for this old woman, and my mother looked at him in genuine surprise and said, “I love doing things with her. It feels like I have Nana back, at least a little.” I’ve never forgotten that though it was 30 years ago. I wonder if Mrs. Willoughby ever knew how grateful my mother was that fate had given her someone to help ease the grief of losing her own mother.
@ Roxie . . . I wish I had saved mine too!! I held on to all that kind of stuff, old love letters . . . my husband found them and threw them away. Gotta love a jealous man . . .
@ chameleonsdream . . . that was beautiful. I would have never thought of it quite like that, but I can relate because I still miss my Nana even after all the years she has been gone. Your mom is an amazing woman . . .