Lessons In Love

My husband and I have never really been into celebrating Valentine's Day. It seems kind of silly to have a day to celebrate love. I mean shouldn't we always celebrate love. Then our oldest daughter, Ashley, was born on Valentine's Day so it shifted from a romantic holiday to Ashley's birthday. At the time she was born it seemed so sweet. The pretty little baby girl born on the day of pink hearts, flowers, and love. Two years later when she became autistic, I found it a little ironic that my daughter, who struggles with human relationships, was born on Valentine's Day. Now that she is ten years old, I see how appropriate a birthday it really is for Ashley. Ashley teaches us more about love than anyone I know. She teaches us about true love that lasts. She teaches us about the love that God wants us to have. The love that is talked about in 1 Corinthians 13. Love that is patient, kind, hopeful, and enduring. She teaches us that love is an action not a feeling. We love her daily even when she can't give anything back and even when we don't feel like it because we are too tired and frustrated. She keeps no record of our wrongs. Our family has learned both how to hope and how to endure from Ashley. She teaches us all about unconditional love and what that truly means. We have learned how to love her and each other on the good days and the bad days. I choose to love her when she laughs and hugs me and to love her when she bites herself when she sees me. I see it in the people around us as well. Nothing shows a person's true heart and character better than how they respond to a person who may possibly never be able to give anything in return. Ashley teaches us to be more patient and to love each other more. Through raising Ashley we realize what really is important in life. There are people that look at Ashley and other people like Ashley and think that they are unaware of whether they are loved and how they are treated. But they are aware and more importantly God is aware of how we treat each other, even the least of these. Now I see God gave Ashley the perfect birthday to go with the message she has for us.
Three things will last forever- faith, hope, and love - and the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13