A couple of months ago I found myself tucked in a library carrel sketching and writing while I was waiting for my partner, a Librarian, to finish a presentation. It was early evening and the sun was quickly beginning to drop as I sat in the quiet space and riffled through my papers. I was aware of other patrons making their way around the library that evening and was acutely aware of two that were looking at books in the stack one row away from where I was sitting. Their voices were soft as they chatted back and forth but I could discern that one was an adult female and the other a young boy.
The two were mostly reading the spines of the books that they were searching through and making small commentary on what they might find inside the book covers. They continued to talkatively peruse the shelves for a while together and then fell into a comfortable silence. I could hear the woman still shuffling through books but the boy seemed to have become restless with the process and was quietly pacing up and down the row. Several minutes passed with quiet rustling as I returned my attention to my own activities. I had almost forgotten their closeness to me when I heard the little boy's voice whisper "I love you." My ears perked up at his statement and it appeared he startled the woman he was with too because she loudly said "what?" and he said again - soft but definite - "I love you."
There, in the middle of a row of library books, something inside that child moved him to express his love for his mother in a totally unexpected and spontaneous outburst. His mother was generously reciprocal in her response to her son and to bear secret witness to that moment warmed my own heart unexpectedly. It was a gentle reminder that it is in the nature of the love that resides within us to move us to action in any moment - to offer that love as a gift to those around us - to speak it and make it known.
Spontaneous Love - That's Theological.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
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