We were on our way to the beach, but
Lynn Rose’s face revealed a familiar scowl and her eight-year-old arms were
tight across her chest. She sat in the back seat with her three-year-old
cousin, Elissa. I caught glimpses in my rear view mirror.
“Lynn Rose,” I said, “your words
have been unkind this afternoon. What did Elissa do to make you want to say
those things?” She tightened her lips and lowered her head.
Lynn Rose had recently come to live
in Elissa’s home. Drugs and alcohol had ruined her parents’ marriage and she
lost the home she knew. The two young girls in my back seat were the
grandchildren of my sister’s new husband. Though I had no direct family ties, I
had come to care for Lynn Rose and Elissa as if I had known them all their
young lives.
“Lynn Rose,” I said. “Sometimes I’m
mean to others when I think they’re getting more love than I am. But guess what
I found out? God has enough love in His big heart for every single person. He
gives special love to each person, just the kind they need. He especially knows
the kind of love kids want.”
I stopped at the traffic light and
breathed a short prayer for the right words.
“Do you know what I do when I don’t
feel loved? I said. The girls looked puzzled.
“I
say, ‘I am loved’ really loud.” Elissa’s
eyes brightened. “Sometimes I say it really, really loud.” My voice rose with
each syllable.
“I am wuved. I am wuved,” Elissa
shouted. I looked at Lynn Rose through the mirror. She ducked her head behind
my seat.
“I am wuved. I am wuved,” Elissa
chanted in her small voice.
“Be quiet!” Lynn Rose said, leaning close
to Elissa. Elissa stopped.
I eased the car into a parking place and
rummaged for change for the meter. We carried our beach bags to the sand and
plopped them down. Kicking our flip flops away, we ran to the waves. The girls
grabbed my hands and we jumped.
After the hundredth jump, Lynn Rose pulled
on my arm until my ear was near her mouth.
“I said it,” she whispered.
“Said what?” I asked, forgetting our
conversation in the car.
“I said ‘I am loved.’” I gave her a
squeeze.
“But you have to say it loud.” I shouted.
I don’t know what the people around us
thought. A three-year-old, an eight-year-old and a thirty-something-year-old
jumping waves and shouting “I am loved” at maximum volume.
I
pray they were as blessed as I was.
I lost touch with Lynn Rose because
my sister and her husband divorced. A
few years later, Lynn Rose wrote my sister to let her know she was adopted. Below her signature, she wrote I am loved.
I pray you are feeling loved this
Valentine’s Day. If not, say I am wuved
or I am loved. Repeat as needed. But you have to say it loud.
In John 15:9 Jesus describes
His love for us.
“I’ve
loved you the way my Father has loved me. Make yourselves at home in my love.”
(The Message)
“I have loved you even as the Father
has loved me. Remain in my love.” (NLT)
BIO
Sondra writes,
hoping to increase her reader’s intimacy with God. She delights in sharing the
good things He does in her life. She was called to work in children’s ministry
in college and writes for children and about children. An active member of Word
Weavers, she lives in Wilmington, North Carolina with her husband, David.
