Love Light

Last Thursday was Valentine’s Day and things didn’t exactly go as planned. Instead of showing my wife I loved her with flowers and gifts, I showed her what an idiot I can be at times. But fortunately, I learned a very important lesson…Love is, above all else, the gift of oneself!

 

The day started out great. We ate breakfast and then drove to work together as we always do. We even stopped along the way and bought flowers for the girls at our office. But sometimes things don’t always go right at work and a phone call from a customer with a “concern about billing” really upset my wife. It wasn’t their request for her to do a lot of extra work that upset her. What upset her was that she had already been doing all of that extra work for many months, and they didn’t realize it nor appreciate it. In fact they implied she wasn’t doing a good job and nothing could have been further from the truth. I have rarely seen her so upset and frustrated.

 

Of course, being the genius that I am, I showed a complete lack of understanding and made things a whole lot worse by telling her she was wrong to get upset about it. She wasn’t wrong to be upset about it, she just needed someone to talk to who would listen… and I failed. I failed to give her what she needed when she needed it most. She got mad at me and I don’t blame her. But I got mad back at her and that was really wrong. What an idiot I can be!

 

After a really difficult work day we skipped going out to dinner and drove straight home. We were both tired so we decided to take a shower to wash away the problems of the day. I got done first and put on my best looking jeans, a fancy shirt and a dab of cologne thinking maybe if I look and smell my best she will forgive me. She was taking a really long time to get ready so I decided to go for a short walk on the beach. I grabbed a cold beer and a cigar and headed down by the water. (I rarely smoke cigars or drink beer during the week, but since I made so many other mistakes already that day, what was a couple more!)

 

It was a beautiful night and as I neared our home I looked up to see a huge crescent moon and what seemed like a million stars. It reminded me that I needed to ask God to forgive me as well as my wife. Just then I smacked into a brick fire ring and my drink went flying all over me, my cigar went flying, and I fell face first onto the ground. When I stood up, my face was covered with wet sand, my shirt was ruined and my cigar was missing completely. Now, I not only felt like an idiot….I looked like an idiot!

 

I glanced once again towards the heavens and began to laugh out loud. God, you’re trying to tell me something aren’t you. You’re trying to tell me I can’t show my wife my love for her by how I look….I need to show it by how I act!

 

Candle Light, Moon Light, Star Light.

The brightest glow is from Love Light.

                                                                                  ~ Grey Livingston