Love has so many meanings it is challenging to talk about love between two people. Some folks love their dogs, a sunset or certain clothes. I love baseball . . . really, I do. I mingle with people who love to go to church or bowling. My friend loves to garden. One of my colleagues loves to see someone sing . . . I think his name is Dave Mathews. There are those of us who love good food. The use of the word “love” has very wide boundaries.
So, what does it mean when two people love one another? I have a working definition based on loving someone for nearly forty years. For me, love is mutual faithfulness, commitment to each others interests, values and sacrifice even to your partner’s whimsy. My belief in God is deeply rooted in the love I have found in the woman I met on a college campus on March 26, 1967. The joy I have found in this relationship has to be related to a power greater than anything on this earth. She has supported me in good times and in bad. She has made sacrifices for me that no man deserves. I pray each morning and each evening that I can be half the man she deserves. We have found love. We are one. We disagree. We are different people. On some level, however, our lives are so intertwined it is hard to know where her life and my life are different. Trust me. This is not like loving baseball.
I know this description is deficient. The reason is I only have words to describe this love. No one could ever reduce to writing the depth of feeling I feel when I look deep into her eyes and her soul touches mine.
Jan Jennings
Republished with permission from the Hospital News Group
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