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February 13, 2006
Every time you smile at someone, it is
an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.
--Mother
Teresa
A string of pink
and red balloons waves high in the air, visible from the road a mile
away. They fly, tied to the top of a 15 x 15 ft. open air tent,
calling attention to the temporary marketplace in the parking lot,
just outside the grocery’s main entrance.
It’s Valentine’s
Day. Churches were decorated for Sweetheart Dinners last Sunday.
Today, flowers and balloon bouquets were loaded early in the morning
onto delivery trucks. Kids all around the country drop valentines
into decorated shoeboxes for their classmates. And, on their way
home, last minute shoppers can pull up to the white tent and grab a
potted red geranium, a box of chocolates, and a bottle of champagne.
Nothing is too
good for a sweetheart. In the age of the Internet, there are endless
ideas for that perfect gift to communicate your amore. At
Amore’ on the Net you can find it all in one spot. Two chubby
cherubs drop little hearts down the page, dragging visitors below to a
pulsing heart and a list of perfect Valentine’s Day ideas.
Even Chef Emeril
Lagase isn’t afraid to “kick it up a notch” with his “special treats
for your loved ones.” Who wouldn’t feel loved being served banana
chocolate bread pudding with mint créme anglaise?
I’m a great fan
of food, and I must admit, banana chocolate bread pudding with mint
créme anglaise prepared a la Chef Emeril wins the day over such
extravaganzas like the giant human-sized stuffed red teddy bear I saw
a man carry to his car.
Valentine’s Day
is a great reminder of just how important it is to tell people we love
just how important they are to us. And, in a year where we have
dedicated ourselves at FROM THE HOME FRONT to a consideration
of love, it seems appropriate to ask…
Why can’t every
day be Valentine’s Day?
Imagine buying
the perfect Valentine’s Day gift, worth a million dollars, but costing
you only a moment of thoughtfulness. A renewable gift. No shopping
required. Handy at every moment, just when you need it, in unlimited
quantities…every day of the year.
Give the gift of
kindness.
Love is patient,
Love is kind.1
Love is a
choice…a choice to be patient and kind. Who can’t afford such a
luxury in a modern world where we are supposed to have everything?
Kind words can be short and easy to
speak, but their echoes are truly endless.2
How nice it is
to be greeted in the morning with a kiss and a Good Morning, I Love
You.
Let us always meet each other with smile, for
the smile is the beginning of love.
2
Smile. How wonderful to be greeted by the smiles, even of
perfect strangers, during the day when the daily battle has worn us
down!
Look in their
eyes.
Pause…stop…listen. Listen.
Listen. Do not
have an opinion while you listen because frankly, your opinion doesn’t
hold much water outside of Your Universe. Just listen. Listen until
their brain has been twisted like a dripping towel and what they have
to say is all over the floor.3
Without holding
your response in your mouth, waiting for your turn to speak…listen.
Love is kind.
I would give up
receiving a dozen, dozen red roses, just to have one person spend a
week devoted to kindness in my honor. You? How hard it is to listen
with an empty mouth! Yet, motivated by love, I think I just might be
able to manage.
We must give
what we hope to receive. Let it begin with us.
Love is kind.
Do not think
that love, in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary. What we
need is to love without getting tired.
(Mother Teresa)
November 12, 2004
Old As the Hills
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