Love Is Like That (05/27/2025)

As I sat in church, my mind wandered a bit and took my eyes with it. And they landed on a mother sitting two rows ahead of me and her young son. She had her arm around him and with her hand she lightly tussled his hair. He turned his head, looked up at his mother, and beamed. And he sat there beside her, beaming radiantly and behaving like an angel. Love is like that.

Later, on the way out of church, I noticed a gentleman watching the church goers exit, his stoic persona bordering on sour. And then a woman walking by touched his hand resting on the end of the pew, smiled and spoke. His demeanor changed in an instant. His expressionless face turned upward with a smile. He patted her hand. They spoke and as they visited, his whole physical presence changed, relaxed, opened. I passed them in the center aisle, amazed at the difference the woman’s outreach had made in the man’s demeanor and persona. Love is like that.

It reminded me of what I’d witnessed the day before at the grocery store. I’d seen a shopper sharply criticize a clerk, and I’d seen the clerk expression change from her usual smile to a look of pain. She kept doing her job, but the usual joy I saw in her as she served others was missing. But when the next customer stepped up, called her by name, that joy returned to her face. I listened as they visited about life all the while moving the groceries from cart to conveyor belt to bag to cart seamlessly and joyfully. And I knew that the “thank you” from the customer and “have a good day” from the clerk were authentic. Love is like that.

As I think about it, I realize how much others have helped me along the way to be the person I am called to be. Their loving treatment of me invoked the better me to rise. Love is like that. I recall one of my favorite movies, “As Good As It Gets”, that came out in 1997 starring Jack Nicholson, Helen Hunt and Greg Kinnear. Nicholson played a successful writer who struggled with OCD and lived an most ego centric existence until he met a certain waitress who challenged him. At one point in the movie, she asked him to pay her a compliment. His response was, “You make me want to be a better man.” Love is like that.

As we come to Christ, as we open ourselves to Christ’s love, we find that we are moved to live that love out loud, to bring that love that so transforms us into the moment, into the world, and out to others. And that expression of Christ, that love in real time, it matters, it changes things, it changes us, it changes others. Love is like that.

As we continue our journeys this day, let us commit to fully opening ourselves to the love of Christ and the Father and to guidance and grace of the Spirit. Let us also commit to being instruments of that love in this world which Christ calls us to be. “Love one another as I have loved you.” It’s His command. Shall we see what a difference it can make because I think we all know – Love is like that.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.