What is love? In a love-is-love
world, the whole world wonders about love, yet we may be further from the concept
of love than ever. But love has always been definitive. Love is not about a
selfish concern. It is all about the other.
Love is spelt in the letters,
C.A.R.E.
C is for COMPASSION
Care is briefed in the press room
of compassion. There is nothing more tangible about care than compassion. The
words care and compassion might easily be interchanged. If we love by the way
of compassion, we think of others to the loss of ourselves, and in that we’ve
cared.
A is for AWARENESS
Underpinning everything of care is
awareness. If we miss awareness we miss care, and if we miss care we miss love.
Awareness causes us to reflect, to redeem meaning, and to respond.
R is for RESPONSIVENESS
What else can responsiveness allude
to other than responding to the prompting of God’s Holy Spirit? Care is the manifest
grace of love to the extent of a response. Love is about seeing a need and
responding in the provision of care.
E is for ENCOURAGEMENT
Another salient love is the gift
given of encouragement. Care encourages. It misses no opportunity to encourage
by the building up of frail members, and we all bear vulnerability. Love cares
through encouragement, and I’d suggest love cannot be genuine fully-fledged
love without it being an encouragement. Indeed, the very best tough love of
challenge bears features of encouragement.
Compassion bred from Awareness Responds
in the giving of Encouragement. This is the C.A.R.E. of love. Love is
compassionate awareness responding through encouragement.
May God truly bless you as you love
through compassionate awareness that responds by encouraging others,
Steve Wickham.
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