DAY 39: "First Love" by Glennis Williams

DAY THIRTY-NINE: "First Love" by Glennis Williams

“We love because He first loved us.” I John 4:19
“Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.” Rev. 2:4

I called their home yesterday never dreaming I’d reach Hazel. After all, she has spent the past 3 to 4 years at the nursing home, day and night, sitting beside the bed of her beloved husband, Prather. Before she took a little cot to put beside his bed so she could spend every night with him, you might walk in and find her sleeping, cuddled in his arms in his hospital-type bed. I only reached her at home today because she had hurried home to cook him some bacon and homemade biscuits. She makes sure her first love is never neglected.

Hazel, now almost 91 years old, and Prather, who will be 93 in October, never left their “first love”. They are more in love today than they were the day they met. They can tell you every detail of that meeting. Hazel still has the dress she was wearing that day! They spend their days listening to their old love songs on a cassette player, or reading the love letters they wrote each other during the war. They saved every one of them.

What a love story! I have to ask myself, “Am I capable and unselfish enough to show that kind of love and devotion to anyone?” I don’t know how many times I’ve told Hazel and Prather that they are the greatest of all love stories. In the human realm, I really don’t know of another couple that is more devoted and in love than they are. As I watch them, I am convicted, not only in my relationships with others, but even more so in my relationship with God.

I awoke last night, and as I lay in bed I felt God asking me to search my heart and answer these questions:

“Am I still your “First Love”?

“Do you stay near Me, paying close attention to all the details of our relationship?”

“Do you rest in My arms when times are difficult?”

“Do your “love songs” to me come from a heart that is truly devoted to Me and Me alone?”

“How often do you read the “love letters” that I have sent you?”

“Has your love grown deeper for me through the years?”

God, as He often does, teaches us lessons through people who come into our lives. Hazel and Prather have shown me what true love looks like. Now I am left to ask myself some serious questions.

My prayer for Trace Crossing:
Heavenly Father, I really cannot understand your love for mankind. How we must break your heart being so unfaithful at times in our love for You. May I, and The Church at Trace Crossing never forsake You – our “First Love.” May our relationship grow stronger and sweeter through the years.