I am a very practical person, probably to a fault, so I don't really understand love at first sight. All the "big" moments in life were great, fabulous in fact, but I never fell head over heals in love or even fell in love instantly when I saw each one of my kids for the first time. Disappointing, I know... especially for my poor husband who is the complete opposite of me.
With that being said, taking care of our dying dog gave me a better understanding of unconditional love. Taking care of him made me realize how much I truly felt he was a part of our family and was willing to make him comfortable as much as possible, ignore the messes he made but felt sympathy and just love for him. It was more than just fleeing compassion but maybe unconditional love.
That unconditional love amazes me. I don't know how Heavenly Father has it for all of his children. I think of how frustrated I get when I tell my kids something, they don't listen and then they get hurt. I feel bad they get hurt and comfort them but I am not always patient because at the back of my head I keep thinking, "this would not have happened if you would have listened to me.".. and then sometimes I proceed to scream in my head. Heavenly Father does that with us. (Well, not the screaming part.) He gives us commandments so we can be safe and have the opportunity to experience joy while on this earth. Sometimes we listen and then sometimes when we don't. We get hurt, sometimes really bad. But if we decide to ask for help, He is always there to brush us off, tell us He loves us and then sends us back on our way to once again exercise the agency we have. The agency He gave us.
How does He DO that! How does He have the patience to deal with us, His children, not following what He has asked us to do, and when we decide to talk to Him, by means of prayer, how many times are the prayers repetitive, we don't stick around to actually listen to what He wants to tell us or even thank Him for all that He has given us. As a parent, if my kids did that, which they do, I would be furious. Yes, I do get mad and I only have 4 kids. How many kids does He have? I am amazed at Heavenly Father, his parenting skills and the unconditional love He has for all of His children.
Now that I have shared some of the inner workings of my brain and the pondering I have done, let me explain what love is coming from practical Amy. Last night Jonathan received some new Yu Gi Oh cards... from Daddy. The game is also a cartoon show. The only cartoon show I cannot watch because I am truly annoyed by it.. and Jonathan knows this. I can watch cartoons, reruns of the same cartoon for hours but can only stand a few minutes of Yu Gi Oh. Why you ask, because the characters ramble on for way too long about a move they are going to make and maybe, just maybe, they finally make the move ten minutes later.
Anyway, Jonathan was pumped up wanting to play the game. For the past month he has studied his cards, compiled the perfect deck, spent hours Skyping his friend about it and even scoured the kids at school hoping/ wishing he would find someone who enjoyed the game as much as he did and yet he has not had a decent duel. Well, last night I "dueled" him. He even gave me his best deck. To see the look of joy on his face as I did something unexpected and then he began to ramble on about all the different options/ moves he could make while totally sounding like one of the cartoon characters and yet I still wanted to play because I knew how happy it made him, that's love... unconditionally.
