Imagine if you could not speak.
While there are many topics of conversation we could derive from this hypothetical exercise, I want to focus in on just one.
How would you communicate LOVE?
For me, the easiest way has always been to say a combination of 7 different letters from the Latin Alphabet, “I LOVE YOU.” It’s simple. Really simple. Also if it has been said, then there is less work to show it because… well… technically it has already been made known. I mean, going the extra mile is certainly appreciated, but you can easily justify not. Right? (Note: sarcasm.) But, wait…
Remember, you can’t speak.
What do you do now??
I am not a “love expert” by an academic standard; I haven’t studied it in a classroom or written books on it. However, I have experienced it on different levels in different forms throughout my life. Since coming to Thailand, I’m realizing just how much I relied on those three little words to express something that I’m also realizing can’t be contained in even a million words.
Each day at the library, I learn more what it means to love beyond words. “Actions speak louder than words” is no longer an overstated quote. It’s real life. A hug here. A smile there. A girl scoots closer so she can rest her elbow on my leg while she takes notes on the floor. A boy walks across the entire room to seek me out so we can play a game together. These little gestures find their way into my heart and explode. It’s like a firework shooting off every time.
We don’t talk. We don’t sit down for coffee and have long conversations about life. I don’t say “I love you.” And yet, every day when I walk home, I can’t help but smile, feeling overwhelmed with LOVE.
Yesterday, Bonus, one of the smartest girls in class, was crying. Another classmate said something to her that just broke her heart. Obviously, I have no idea what was said, but I immediately I saw how it affected her. She moved from her normal spot in class (front and center) to the wall where she could hide most of herself behind a bookcase. Her usually bright, smiling face was full of hurt. She held the tears back as long as possible. I got up from my spot in the back and sat next to her. As soon as I put my arm around her, the tears came.
I couldn’t fix the problem. I couldn’t say that I was sorry and that whatever her classmate had said was definitely not true. All I could do was love her. In this case, love was not expressed with three words said out loud, but a silent hug. As I held on to her, praying that she would know how much she was loved, something began to change. A smile began to form, followed by a giggle, then laughter. Within minutes, she was back to herself, showing off her smarts in front of the whole class.
That’s the power of Love. It doesn’t matter the language it is stated in or how it is shown. At the end of the day, Love empowers us. From mean comments by a 10-year-old classmate to your best friend walking away from a “forever” that lasted only a year, Love knows no limits, no boundaries, no degrees of pain.
LOVE heals all.
And something that incredible, that powerful, is certainly greater than our ability to speak in any language.
