The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.



Letters to Editor

Dear Editor and Sponsors of the Church News,

The Bethel Lutheran Church congregation would like to thank you and the sponsors of the church news page for publishing our worship times and our schedules for church activities.

We appreciate this service that you make available to our community.

Sincerely,

Barbara Malcolm

Congregational Secretary

Bethel Lutheran Church


IDENTIFYING LOVE

By Elaine Slater Reese

Valentines Day focuses on the word LOVE. There are cards, candies, flowers, gifts of all types to give the one you LOVE. These are somehow supposed to express the thoughts we never verbalize. But we use L-O-V-E in many different ways. Our neighbor boy LOVES his new puppy. The teenager LOVES his car. The athlete LOVES the game. I LOVE pizza.

The husband LOVES his wife of fifty seven years and visits her every day in the nursing home. Her eyes still light up when she sees him although that is the only way she can communicate. Parents love their children. My neighbors have, for forty- six years, loved and cared for their disabled son.

Some LOVE quiet times. Others LOVE lots of activity. LOVE is burying one you care about and knowing you will treasure his memory. Love is going without dinner so that another can have a few bites. LOVE is anonymously paying someone's utility bill so that services will not be cut off. LOVE is watching your child march off to war knowing he may never come home again - yet proud he honors his country.

We can define LOVE in many ways. But the most clear definition of the word LOVE is found in the words JESUS LOVES YOU - JESUS LOVES ME. He defined LOVE on an old rugged cross.

Elaine Slater Reese is a freelance writer in Spring Green, Wi. who grew up in Hancock County - near Bowen, Illinois