Good Friday morning to you. It’s the last day of our week on simple lessons and I saved the best for last. It’s the one thing that can mend; it’s the one thing we all need to make our day just a little better. When I was thinking of this lesson, the first thing I thought of was the movie, Michael. They are sitting in a bar and the angel, Michael, said, “In the words of John and Paul…” The two men sitting at the table ask him, “The apostles?” and Michael says, “No, The Beatles. All you need is love.”
Love is a very key ingredient to life. I was thinking about love and how when you love the people in your life there are so many things that no longer matter. When you love someone you are not concerned if they think differently than you. You are not concerned when they choose to build their life in another town away from you, or another country. You simply rejoice when you see the joy in their hearts, as they seek the purpose they are meant to live.
In the Bible, the “Love Chapter” (I Corinthians 13), has a few things to say about love. It tells of how love is patient, love is kind, it does not boast, it does not seek after itself. Love does not get angry easily, and many more things. The key is at the end of that part of the chapter, when it says, “Love never fails.” I use this in the beginning of many of my speeches, asking the question, “What would you do if you could not fail?” Well if love never fails, and you don’t want to fail, maybe you should do more things out of love.
In the Bible, there is a story of Solomon in his wisdom as a judge. It tells the story of two mothers in a household who each had small babies. The one mother loses her baby in an accident in the middle of the night. She is so hurt and so jealous that she took her dead baby and exchanged it for the other mother’s baby while she was sleeping. The other mother woke up the next day to find her baby not breathing. She immediately suspects the other woman has exchanged the babies and the live baby is hers. They take the matter before the judge, Solomon. Solomon, being the wise man that he was, when hearing both mothers claim the living baby as their own, has to make a judgment. He tells the two women to bring the live baby in, and says he will cut the baby in half so each could have one half of the live baby, knowing the baby’s true mother would never let this happen. The real mother speaks up and says, “No, let the baby live and let her have it.” Solomon then gave the baby to her saying, “She must be the real mother as she would give up the baby to let it live.”
There are so many stories of love out there, from Bible stories to fairy tales. But I wanted to use this one. Love is not a selfish thing. I wish you could see the love that we have for each other in our house. Love is not just a good warm feeling, but a true long-term feeling. We want the best for our kids; we have a love for each other and want to share it. We have many guests stop by, as we regularly offer a place to stay to couch surfers. We are willing to share our worlds with others. The last two nights we had some ladies staying at our home – one who stayed here before and is a friend; one who was visiting our home for the first time. It was a joy to hear how much they loved the time they got to spend with us and how they think we are just awesome people to know. I do not tell this to sound my own horn, the person that everyone loves more than me when staying here is Alfred (Gwynne’s dad). They all love him and every time someone moves on, he asks when the next visitor will come because he takes such pleasure in sharing his home with people.
Here’s another story about love: Last month Gwynne and I took a week-long motorcycle ride around Texas. You can read all the stories about that on her blog, Lady Biker Travel. But the one story I want to tell is when we were in Houston. It was dark and she was riding behind me. She needed gas and got so low she had to turn in when she found a station. I didn’t see her turn off so I had to circle back to find her. It was a part of town that is so new, the roads don’t all show up on GPS yet. Also, the zoning laws require all businesses to be hidden behind trees with no signs above ground level so you can’t see them very easily from the road. Well, when she realized we were separated, she takes out her phone and types on facebook about it.
Two of our friends back in Dallas are reading the post and comment about it. One tells how he has faith in our good riding skills, even in Houston traffic. The other tells how we love each other so much, she knows our separation was accidental and we’d get back together. I know how I love Gwynne but hearing friends tell of how much they see our love for each other means more. Just like I mentioned yesterday, we are not perfect (far from it) – [editor’s note: I think he’s pretty perfect]; we have our problems just like any other, but we have Love. No matter what we have to go through we are going through it together. It’s part of my motto to love what you do and love those who you share life with. It makes all the difference. So the biggest, simple lesson in life: Love. Now go and love your life for the weekend – and all the days after that. See you Monday.
I’m Tim Gillette, the Rocker Life Coach. It’s time to live the life you always dreamed of, to love what you do and those you share life with. Make love never fail in your life and people will look to you as the RockStar in your world.
