“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.” ― Lao Tzu
Love changes us. It causes us to do things we wouldn’t normally do.
Andrew Lloyd Weber, the wonderful composer, understood the significance of love. He once penned these lyrics:
Love, Love changes everything:
Hands and faces; Earth and sky.
Love, Love changes everything:
How you live and how you die.
I can also attest to the fact that love changes us—that people who are in love follow through with actions they never would have imagined.
When I was in college, my interests were narrow. I liked sports… well, and video games. But mostly sports. I enjoyed playing them. I enjoyed watching them on television. I enjoyed attending sporting events at every level: high school, college, professional. It didn’t matter the level and it didn’t matter the sport. I loved being there with the crowd, the teams, the atmosphere, the competition. It was what I loved to do with my time and my money.
But my wife, who I began dating at the time, enjoyed different things. For example, she liked the opera—which holds very little in common with a basketball game I might add. But she loved it. As a result, it wasn’t long before I attended. Additionally, I researched operas coming to town, I researched seating and prices, I purchased tickets, and I learned to appreciate the theater. I did it because I loved my wife. And love changes us. It causes us to do things we wouldn’t normally do.
In addition to the opera, I have visited in-laws on major holidays. I have sat on benches in women’s clothing stores. I have given up my umbrella during rainstorms. I have put a Stevie Wonder CD in my car’s CD player. I have spent my life’s savings on a wedding ring. And I have committed the rest of my life for richer or poorer in sickness and in health to one person, my wife, Kim. My love for her has changed me forever.
Now that I have children, I have seen my love for them change me as well. As a result, you may find me curled up in a little ball hiding in a closet waiting for my daughter to find me. You may find me curled up on a pink bed thoroughly engaged in a Junie B. Jones book. Or you may find me spending an evening at the kitchen table working on 4th grade geometry. Again, things I wouldn’t normally do.
But I do them today because I love my kids and I love my wife. And love changes everything. May it find opportunity to change you.
Image: dprotz
Helen T Gierke says
Charles Hart and Don Black wrote the lyrics. Webber wrote the music.
Denise says
It’s all about The love! Thank you for this post.
Helen says
You are so right. Thank you. Love opens our hearts and eyes and we share ourselves and are filled with joy