I remember as a school girl standing at the bus stop waiting for my ride to school. Pulling out my apple for lunch I would hold the apple so that I could twist the stem. As I twisted the stem I would go through the alphabet. The letter on which the stem came loose was the beginning letter of the boy who loved me. The hard part was trying to make it last until W for the particular boy I liked! How little I knew about love back then. At that stage in my life, love was based on luck.

As I grew older, I thought love was based on how good I was - how good I looked, how well I performed, how good I was in comparison to others. That was dangerous territory because there was always the possibility that I wasn't good enough.

When I met my husband-to-be, I knew love was based on chemistry. Even though I didn't believe in love at first sight, I knew that there was some kind of connection that was unexplainable.

As the years of marriage passed by, I found that love was based on friendship. He became my best friend. My love for him grew and I realized that early in our marriage I hadn't known what real love was but as we grew together our love deepened.

Yet there were also times when I would question my husband's love for me. If he truly loved me he would…..(you name it). I would think that love was based on what I received. The more I received, the more I was loved. Even Macy's, during February (Valentine month), had banners in their stores saying, "We want to be part of your love life." What the store was in effect saying was that your love life would be improved by chocolates, fancy lingerie, and so on.

We know so little about love!

If we know so little about love is it because we know so little about God? Why does it seem to take a life time for us to understand God's love? What does it take for His love to become real in our lives? He has told us over and over, "I love YOU." God is love. All God does is love. He is unchangeably loving. We are the ones who change. We are the ones who go through stages in life with our cockeyed ideas of what love is.

Knowing that you are loved simply for who you are and not because of luck, or for your appearance or abilities, or how much you have received, can have a startling effect on your life. It gives you energy and hope for starters.

"We love because he first loved us." 1 John 4:19 How will your life change today knowing that God is Love and that God loves YOU?

--Norma Osborn

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