I may do all this....with love.

It is at this time of year that we share memories and laugh together with friends.

Yesterday I did just this with a very dear and close friend. I had been clearing out my cupboard and had come across three photographs of somebody being lifted off the side of a hill in a helicopter. It was this very same friend.

He and I had been out on one of Scotlands highest mountains and he had fallen pretty close to the summit. It was fairly obvious he had broken his ankle. Mobile phones were still distant dreams, so I headed off to run down to the foot of the mountain to get help.

An ambulance was called but the realised they were not getting up to where he was that the helicopter had to be called out. I was told to run back up and tell him not to move. So off I headed. Eventually, the helicopter arrived and he was lifted off. I thought they would take me also, no I had to run back down on my own feet. We laughed and I said to him, "What we do for LOVE."

I was thinking of this and remembering a well-known passage about love that I used to read at every wedding I conducted.  I could not get it out of my mind. Could it say something about this time of year?

So here is my effort at doing just that.

I may decorate my house with tinsel and bows, strands and twinkling lights and shiny balls, but if I do not show love to my family, I am just a decorator.

 I may slave all day in the kitchen making loads of sausage rolls and preparing a gourmet dinner, arranging a beautiful table, but if I do not show love I am just a cook.

I may cover the tree with angels and snowflakes and attend loads of parties and sing in the choir, but if I show no love I am just an entertainer.

I may work at the soup kitchen, go carol singing at the nursing home and give a donation to charity, but if I do not show love, it profits me nothing.

 Love stops the cooking to hug the child

Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the husband.

Love is kind, though hassled and tired.

Love doesn't envy another's home because it has coordinated Christmas china and table linens.

Love doesn't yell at the Children to get out of the way but is thankful they are there to be in the way.

Love doesn't give only to those who are able to give in return but rejoices in giving to those who cannot.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails.

Computer games will break, pearls will be lost, golf clubs will break.

But the gift of love will endure everything.  So find Love in self and give love.

Have a marvellous love filled day.