I am Loved

 

 

 

            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.