Meditation (Sarah Brandt)

“No eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love Him." (1 Corin. 2:9)
 
The days are shorter and darkness descends as I sit down to write about love. The house is quiet now and I grasp this moment to reflect on what God’s love means to me. Soon the house will be noisy and boisterous. My college-aged boys will be home for the holidays with piles of dirty laundry and growling stomachs.
God’s love has been written about by wiser folks. And yet, I have experienced God’s love and grace today. I believe what the verse above proclaims about God’s love. We cannot begin to understand or conceive what God has prepared for those who love Him.
 
God’s love is known in many ways:

• My husband (without being asked) prepped my breakfast smoothie so I could leave for work a few minutes earlier.
• Listening as my 16-year-old female patient told me about her grandfather’s death and holding her hand as she cried.
• Witnessing my nurse doing all she can and never complaining (despite being overworked and understaffed).
• A follow-up phone call to the parent of my 11-year-old patient with cerebral palsy who was hospitalized last month with COVID.
• A joke texted from my college-aged son.
• The whole-body smile and energetic coo of a joyful 4-month-old.
• The exhaustion on the mother’s face (because the same baby is up numerous times at night to nurse) is love.
• The mother whose eyes filled with tears when she confessed that although she was vaccinated, her husband and children were not because of the opposing views in their household. The anguish on this mother’s face is also love.
• A phone conversation with a psychologist who is helping one of my anxious teenage patients.
• The 12-year-old boy who wishes his dog was still alive.
• The 5-year-old girl that cannot name one single vegetable that she likes.
• A text from a dear friend/colleague planning our annual birthday lunch date.
• An email from the clinic scheduler requesting physicians to volunteer for upcoming 5 to 11- year-old COVID vaccine clinics and seeing how many of us have already signed up to do a good deed even if it means another night away from home.

God’s love is easy to see in joyful, celebratory times–especially during the holidays when families and friends gather. God’s love is also in the suffering. God’s love is in the loss, the anxiety, and the grief. God’s love is known in each and every moment.