On Faith & Family: For the love of of potatoes!
Love is one of the most overused words in the English language. For instance, I love my husband, but I also love me a good ole Taco Bell Crunch Wrap Supreme. Just in case there is any confusion, my husband for sure wins! Ha! Do you ever catch yourself doing that? Using words with such strong meanings to describe ordinary everyday things? I am so guilty of that.
So a few months ago my three-year-old son Grant was given his first-ever Mr. Potato Head. For lack of a better word, HE LOVED IT! Grant carried it around the house, insisted on squishing the teeny tiny glasses on his face before we went anywhere and also managed to balance old Spud’s top hat on his own head during almost every activity. But most of all…most of all, Grant LOVED the mustache. When he wasn’t cramming it in poor Mr. Potato Heads armpit, he was plastering it on his face like a lovely unibrow or better yet, scrunching up his nose and lips to wear his very own mustache while he made funny faces at himself in the mirror.
During Christmas time, my husband decided to grow out his own stache. Our son was fascinated! One evening, after careful thought, Grant climbed up on Daddy’s lap and gave him a big kiss. What followed was priceless. It went something like this:
Leah Gibson
“Dad?”
“Yes, son?”
“I love you.”
“I love you too, buddy.”
“Know what else I love?” Grant asked.
“What?” Daddy answered.
“Your mustache. I love your mustache,” Grant complimented.
My husband was feeling pretty confident about himself in that moment.
“Daddy?”
“Yes, son?”
Leah Gibson
“I love you because you look just like my Mr. Potato head!”
Daddy no longer sports a mustache, even though the compliment coming from our little boy was, (in Grant’s eyes) among the highest of compliments a boy could give his father. After all, Grant LOVES his Mr. Potato head!
Grant is a little boy who loves his daddy. I love him too and I actually mean that word in its fullest, most real, most literal intent sense because to me, my husband is the best potato in the batch!
As humans, we use a lot of words with empty meanings.
Aren’t you glad that God always says what He means?
For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only son, (Jesus,) that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16
How do we know that God loves us in the literal sense? Like, beyond a crunch wrap supreme or the child’s love of his cherished Mr. Potato head? Well, I would say the proof is in the pudding.
In a day and age when love is so unsteady and is constantly coming and going and changing in meaning…it’s nice to lean on words that mean something real because they are backed up by action. I’m pretty sure being willing to give your own life for another person is the most literal definition of love that you can get.
Maybe you’re needing real love today. (I know I need it every day!) I hope that you’ll turn to the only One who’s standard of love never changes and whose supply never runs dry; the name I never get tired of writing about… Jesus Christ! God almighty!
Happy new year everyone!
