Love

And we are put on Earth a little space, that we may learn to bear the beams of love. --William Blake

Joh 15:7 If you abide in Me, and My Words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done to you. 8 In this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, so you shall be My disciples. 9 As the Father has loved Me, so I have loved you; continue in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love, even as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. 11 I have spoken these things to you so that My joy might remain in you and your joy might be full. 12 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Joseph M. Stowell shares this memory:

"When my parents moved to southern Florida, they sorted through some of the family treasures and divided them among the children. My dad brought me a little box and said, 'Joe, I want you to have this.'When I opened the box and pulled back the cotton, there was an old pocket watch-one of those round ones that usually hangs from a fancy gold chain with a watch fob on it.

"I have a few antique clocks, so I was somewhat aware of the value of old timepieces. That watch did not have a famous maker's name on it, or a brass or gold or sterling case; it did not have a fancy gold chain or watch fob. In fact, it really was a common old watch with a leather thong tied to it. As a watch, it was not something of great worth.

"But my dad said, 'This was the first watch I ever owned. My dad gave me this watch. 'I remembered that he and I used to fish the St. Joe River every summer, floating down the river and fly fishing in the evening. This was the watch he used to pull out every once in a while to see what time it was.

"You know, if my dad had taken that watch to an antique store, they would have told him it was worth little, if anything. But all the money in the world could not buy that watch from me. That watch is precious to my father, and since it is precious to him, it is precious to me.

"That is what people are like. That is why God in essence said, 'Love Me? Love people!'"