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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: LOVE (agape and/or phileo) (03/12/15)
At 6.23pm on a Saturday evening, 29th November 1986 the nurses placed my daughter into my arms, all 8lbs 13oz of her. The only words I could breath out were ‘My baby girl’.

I called her Helen after Helen of Troy. My daughter is now 28 years of age and is beautiful in more ways than I can imagine. I have seen her grow up in the different stages of her life. I have seen the choices she has made, some good and some bad and each stage I have loved her. I watch her with such love, the same love I felt when she was born and given to me.

Love is divine. I say this because you cannot define it with reason, logic or with any vowel or consonant. There is no word in the dictionary that can describe this feeling of unconditional love. It goes beyond anything we see in the flesh on this earth.
Love is also greater than the day to day fleeting of emotions that drift and change due to minute by minute or life changing circumstances.

Love is …. well it just is. This kind of love has no sexual connotations and I believe everyone is capable of love.

Love is a wholeness, a completeness that we cannot really understand. We try to break down the concept of love but it is misty and dim. The earthly things that matter, the things we touch and see and hear have in some way tarnished our true understanding of love. Love is tarnished because of the brokenness of this world due to disconnection with God who is Love.

You cannot capture love, it is not to be caught or trapped. Love is about free will. Love is being able to express yourself and who you are and who God has made you to be.

Today I spent a few hours with my daughter and her dog Mazie. I realized again the simplicity of love. I have never stopped loving her. A day has not gone by, even in my times of anger towards some of her rebellious teenage years, that I have not loved her.

She amazes me, even now. She fascinates me with her display of being who she is, even watching her own struggles of who she is. She is unique and I appreciate that as a mother and as a woman myself. Her soul is transparent and she hides not her love for me, her animals, her friends and all those around her. Despite all the hard knocks she has had in this life, some on the same journey as myself, she has always loved. It is a part of who she is.

She is still the same vulnerable baby I held in my arms for the first time.

She is the same little girl, aged 3 years who sat on the spin dryer at home giggling as this machine travelled across the kitchen floor as it shook drying my sheets out.

I never had this love in my life as a child. I came from an abusive background. Love entered into my life when ‘my little baby girl’ was placed in my arms.

I became a born-again Christian months later, the timing of this has never been lost on me. I had many lessons to learn about love, pure love, pure unconditional love. God gave me the greatest teacher of all; being a mother myself which is a miracle because the worst of my abuse was at the hands of my mother and women.

I find God’s wisdom unsearchable and as I continue to love her even now, with this same love I am learning to love myself. Every act of kindness and love towards my daughter is the very act of kindness and love I give to myself and through this God shows me that He is love. God is love and it is a gift bestowed from on high.
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
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This article has been read 770 times
Member Comments
Member
Date
C D Swanson 
03/19/15
Such a powerful affirmation of love and His glory.

Thanks for sharing.

God bless~
C D Swanson 
03/26/15
Congrats on your HC!

God bless~
Shann Hall-LochmannVanBennekom 
03/29/15
This is a lovely essay on love. It felt like a modern day twist on 1 Corinthians 13. I could feel your emotions in your words.

Some tiny red ink would be to vary your sentence structure some. In the second paragraph, almost every line begins with the word I. There are other spots where you main begin with pronouns too. For example: While watching her grow, my love never faltered, not even when she made bad choices.
Another thing you might want to consider is starting off with more of a punch. Perhaps telling a bit about your childhood and how you had never experienced love until your daughter was born. This would give the reader a conflict, making her want to root for you, then experiencing joy when you discovered love.

Overall, this is a well-written piece. You did a fine job of writing on topic. Love is not easy to describe, but I certainly felt I had a great grasp of it after reading your heart-warming story. Your ending was quite nice too, bringing the story full circle. I'm eager to read more of your work. Keep up the great job.

If you haven't checked out Jan's Writing Basics on the message boards, I would urge you to do so. Her thread is one of the best writing advice on the Internet, and she responds personally to everyone who participates.