“Let Love Grow” (08/02/2025)

I went to visit my sister in November of 2020. Her cancer had returned. She was doing a special immunotherapy. I was excited to see her again. Our trip earlier that fall had been hard for her. I was hoping we could make up for that. But the minute I walked in her back door and caught sight of her, I knew that our time was far more limited than I had been told. We hugged and our mutual squeezes said everything.

I extended my one-week visit. My husband agreed. We needed to stay. And so, we were there for a little over two weeks. Her two daughters and son who lived in town began visiting daily. Her daughter who lived out of town came home. My husband and I stayed at a hotel, so the family had all the room they needed.

About a week in, we all would be together in the evening, and one of my nieces asked if I would lead the family in bedtime prayer. I did, and we ended it every evening with the words, “LORD, let us love well, let us love long.”  We knew that every day was going to get harder. My sister died November 21, 2020. All her children and grandchildren and her husband of 52 years were there. Those memories as well as our prayer have remained with me.

The LORD’s will for us is that we love well. The LORD’s will for us is that we love long. The LORD’s will is that our love persists regardless of the situation. The love that we are called to live is important every day, but in times like my sister’s final days, it is essential because we won’t get another chance.

Loving well is very important to me. The more scripture I read and the more days I live, I realize it really is the most important thing. It is what I will be judged on by my loving Savior. So, I think you can understand why I end with “Let us all love well” every day in these blogs. “Let us all love well” is my way of praying out loud that we get it right this day.

We may accomplish great things, we may discover revolutionary elements or invent something that changes the way we move around the globe. We may work at prestigious establishments or get that job that everyone wants. We may attain stardom or fame. All of this will look great in our obits, but honestly, truly, all that really matters is whether we were able to love well regardless of the behavior of others and whether we were able to love long regardless of the fickleness of others.

Recently a new but precious friend sent me a small plaque that I put on my mantle. When I sit in “my chair,” I can see it. It reminds me of my friend and our relationship. And it reminds me that we are called by the LORD to love: to love the LORD with all our being; to love one another; to love ourselves as children of the Almighty Father. That plaque reminds me daily that I have the opportunity every day to grow my love and, in the process, to grow into the one I was created to be and the one I am called to be. In the end, how well I loved will be all that really matters. I will do that one moment at a time, one choice at a time, one act at a time.

As we begin this day, let us take time to stop and ask the LORD for help to do that which the LORD created us to do and calls us to do. Let us pray, “LORD, let us love well. LORD, let us love long.”

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.