You know what touched my heart this year? I will tell you one of the things that stood out to me above almost everything else that I experienced and observed over the past year.
There is a police officer, who works for the city that I work for. I have gotten to know this man over the course of the past year. Not only is he a man of integrity, honor, virtue and courage--he is also a physically gorgeous man (almost flawless). All the women in the office talk about him. All of the single women in the office have a “crush” on him and all the married women get “silly” when he comes around.
Throughout the year, I would listen to the conversation that women would have regarding this man, saying things like, “Dang, if I wasn’t married”; or, “I wonder if he’s happily married, cause he is one good looking man”. I would tell my married co-workers, “How would you feel if your husband was expressing those same things about some new good looking woman at his office?”
They would get quite and ponder for a minute and then say “Oh, I would not like that at all”, and then they would say, “Wow, I hadn’t thought about that. Thank you for pointing that out.”
We are all pretty pathetic, aren’t we?
Anyway--back to the story.
One Friday evening, the City hosted an employee appreciation Barbeque. Employees and their families were invited to attend. This officer (the good looking one) brought his wife and his two children. As people were being introduced, I watched the stunned look on the faces of the women, and the exchange of eye contact between them, as they were introduced to this officer’s wife. There was nothing physically attractive about her. She was overweight, out of shape, and actually quite homely.
I also watched him as he introduced her to people. His eyes sparkled with pride. He obviously thought that she was the most beautiful woman in the world because he saw something in her that no one else could see. He had found something that very few people find. LOVE—a love that this world cannot understand and very few will ever experience.
Witnessing this, made my heart sing!
"You do not love a woman because she is beautiful, but she is beautiful because you love her." Oscar Wilde
Christ does not love us because there is anything in us that is beautiful, but we are made beautiful because He loves us. That is what True Love does.
There is a police officer, who works for the city that I work for. I have gotten to know this man over the course of the past year. Not only is he a man of integrity, honor, virtue and courage--he is also a physically gorgeous man (almost flawless). All the women in the office talk about him. All of the single women in the office have a “crush” on him and all the married women get “silly” when he comes around.
Throughout the year, I would listen to the conversation that women would have regarding this man, saying things like, “Dang, if I wasn’t married”; or, “I wonder if he’s happily married, cause he is one good looking man”. I would tell my married co-workers, “How would you feel if your husband was expressing those same things about some new good looking woman at his office?”
They would get quite and ponder for a minute and then say “Oh, I would not like that at all”, and then they would say, “Wow, I hadn’t thought about that. Thank you for pointing that out.”
We are all pretty pathetic, aren’t we?
Anyway--back to the story.
One Friday evening, the City hosted an employee appreciation Barbeque. Employees and their families were invited to attend. This officer (the good looking one) brought his wife and his two children. As people were being introduced, I watched the stunned look on the faces of the women, and the exchange of eye contact between them, as they were introduced to this officer’s wife. There was nothing physically attractive about her. She was overweight, out of shape, and actually quite homely.
I also watched him as he introduced her to people. His eyes sparkled with pride. He obviously thought that she was the most beautiful woman in the world because he saw something in her that no one else could see. He had found something that very few people find. LOVE—a love that this world cannot understand and very few will ever experience.
Witnessing this, made my heart sing!
"You do not love a woman because she is beautiful, but she is beautiful because you love her." Oscar Wilde
Christ does not love us because there is anything in us that is beautiful, but we are made beautiful because He loves us. That is what True Love does.
Comments