As I'm driving home from small group, a song came on that caught my attention. The artist kept repeating, "but we ALL need love, but we ALL need love, but we ALL need love."
I park in the Jewel-Osco parking lot, only minutes away from church. I walk in, grab a carton of eggs and bananas, and as I'm standing in the check-out line, I see a very short, pale, thin, emaciated looking man.
Sometimes you can see the pain in people, just by looking at their face. He looked sad, heavy burdened, hungry, and joyless. He didn't say much to the cashier, he just looked down until his food was bagged and handed to him.
He was probably around my age, 27 or 28 years old. He walks out slowly carrying one bag. I'll likely never see that man again, nor will I ever know what he's been through/going through. All I know is that he needs love desperately. His body and body language is showing the effects of love-less-ness/lifelessness.
He looked dead but alive. He was fully conscious and breathing, but dead inside. And yet ALL he needs, all we need, is LOVE. And when we don't get it, our bodies show it, our actions reflect it, and our minds retain it.
What helps me love people, even the ones that don't love me back, is the fact that they're just like me. They crave love on a minute by minute basis. If I show them love, that could be the first time in days they received it. Or maybe in a lifetime.
We ALL need love.
