Carry Love With Us

“I’d like to conclude by saying this: whenever we think of Christ, we should think of his love. It is with love that he has bestowed so many gifts on us. It is with love that God has given us such a sign and promise of his great love. Even if we are just beginning on the path and are still very wretched, let us strive to carry this divine love with us wherever we go and to increasingly awaken ourselves in love.” Teresa of Avila, The Book of My Life (1562)

On Monday morning my friend Rachel Moseley had surgery for breast cancer. She is doing well, but it’s a hard situation for everyone concerned. Ever since I learned about Rachel’s surgery, I’ve been thinking about the way that Jesus healed—sometimes even unconsciously—people who came into his presence, and I’ve been wanting to have some of that healing power to share with others in my life.

Although Jesus healed people instantly, nobody in my life has been able to do that. However, I have been in the presence of people who carried love inside them, as Teresa says, and it has made a remarkable difference in the lives of people they know. For example, my grandmother Gradys Stokke Anseth, daughter of Norwegian pioneers, was born 101 years ago today in northwestern North Dakota. Gladys possessed great love and knew how to bring its healing comfort to all around her, especially when they found themselves groaning under the weight of illness or injury.

My mother has Gladys’s gift of being able to make people feel loved—generously loved from the top of the head to the tips of the toes—no matter what their circumstances, and Teresa would be glad to see that healing power continue through the generations. I just got back from spending time with my mother, and I’m praying her great love will continue to be poured into me until I, too, am filled to overflowing. It's going to take some time...My mother makes loving others look easy, but I think it can be very, very hard work.

Teresa would applaud my mother’s effort that looks so effortless—the joy of love and all its healing power—and so I’m using Teresa’s words to encourage myself and others interested in this holy work: “Let us strive to carry this divine love with us wherever we go and to increasingly awaken ourselves in love.”

My prayer today is a simple one: May we learn to carry love to each other much like my dear grandmother learned to carry water from North Dakota wells to the homestead all those many years ago, and may the holy work we do and its healing power always be for the love and glory of God.