What’s Your Love Equation?

Recently I was waiting in the return line at our local Costco. That line during the holiday season is a test of patience and determination. I survived, feeling the workers should toss confetti at me for my significant accomplishment. However, something much more special happened.

As my kids and I were waiting, a toddler who had just learned to walk came out of nowhere and wrapped her arms around my daughter’s legs like she was a long-lost friend. We all smiled as the little girl’s dad called her back to him and she waddled back. A moment later, she took off again, heading straight for my daughter and embracing her legs with all the enthusiasm she could muster. Again, the dad called her back, and she took off back to him.

A few seconds later, the scene repeated itself again. What happened next was even more precious. When the little girl released her grip on my daughter’s legs, she grabbed my daughter’s hands and started to sit down, pulling my daughter down to sit with her.

I was smiling. The little girl’s family was smiling. Everyone else who was enduring the return line and was witnessing this encounter was smiling. It was a beautiful moment happening in chaotic surroundings.

I started to think about how that little girl, free from fear and social prejudices, loved extravagantly. Her love had no boundaries. I can tell you exactly how many times I have walked up to someone at Costco and hugged them: zero. In fact, thinking of doing such a thing causes panic and sweats to ensue. Why is that?

It is a struggle for me to love extravagantly as that little girl did, but I certainly desire to. What is remarkable to me about the encounter was that there were no words exchanged. The little girl didn’t yet talk. Words were not her method for showing love; her method was her actions.

Jesus’ command to his followers is to love God and love others. In the gospel of John, Jesus shared these words, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35 NIV)

We are called to love others, yet when others are unfamiliar and unknown, we tend to feel uncomfortable. Unfamiliar + Unknown = Uncomfortable.

I want to change this equation in my life. I don’t want discomfort to control my ability to love others. If my love has limits, how will others know that I am a disciple of Christ? How will I be able to share him with them?

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Jesus was drawn to those who were unfamiliar and unknown. He sought them out. His love was unrestrained.  I desire that kind of love-filled life.

That little girl showed my family and me that day how “loving others” should look. She had a reckless, extravagant, unrestrained love, and it was the most beautiful witness to Jesus’ love that I have seen in a long time.

I want the equation in my life to be Unfamiliar + Unknown = Unrestrained.

If we all strive to live with an unrestrained love, imagine what the world could look like–and maybe those return lines wouldn’t seem so bad.

Heather Gerwing is a homeschooling mom of four. She is a Jersey girl at heart but now lives in Michigan with her husband Jeff and their kids. Heather enjoys reading, coffee-ing, worshipping and writing. She is passionate about her family and living the full life. You can find her at heathergerwing.com.

Photograph © Andrea Tummons, used with permission