Is Love All We Need?

Your son or your daughter will always be exactly that. Your son or daughter , whatever age they become. This sadly does not always mean that you will have a close-knit loving relationship, nor even that you'll have too many things in common.

There are families who seem to 'have it all'. They spend lots of time together and are extremely warm and loving with one another.

Then there are families who don't spend much time together, simply due to the fact that one person loves football, other members of the family prefer tennis or don't like sports at all.!Or geographically, the distance between them keeps them apart. Sometimes these are the very ones who are the closest, most loving of families. When they meet up after many months or even years they will immediately hug , then talk and talk and laugh as though they spend every day together.

It's no secret that the main ingredient for a close , happy family is LOVE. Yes, tolerance , a sense of fair-play, give and take are all needed but none so much as basic love.

In English , we have just the one word---- love--- whether we mean we love music, or we love animals, or we love steak and chips (fries). In Greek they have different words for different kinds of love. e.g.'Agape" means a general love of people or mankind as a whole . . Whereas 'Phyllia' means more of a family or brotherly love. (Philadelphia- the city of brotherly love.)

It's sad that in this modern world even family love cannot be taken for granted. Some people have children and I can't help wondering why they bothered. They are either shouting at the little mites or ignoring them because they have 'better' things to do.

As for serious abuse of young children let's not even go there - it's too horrendous. I admire all the people who work helping children who have suffered abuse of any kind. One of my brothers and his wife are people like that.. The patience they have with a little girl they foster amazes me. When they 1st took her in she was such hard work because of what she'd been through, with her own family. They'd abused her because she was 'different', she had learning difficulties.

It amazes me to see the difference in the little girl my sister-in-law took into her home and the happy healthy child she is now. It's been 4 years and she still has 'learning difficulties' but her personality has totally changed simply because she's been loved for the past 4 years.. Discipline too has been essential. , but discipline with love is winning the day.

I remember a nurse, many years ago, who worked on the maternity ward of a hospital She always worked the night shift. Some hospitals in different parts of the world have the baby in a little crib next to the mother, but this particular hospital was the kind where the babies were all in their little cribs in rows in a separate room. The mothers would feed them and take care of them during the day but then put them down to sleep in the nursery at night, and the nurses took over. (very sensible, I thought. At least the new mum gets a few nights sleep to recover from labour and child-birth before going home , perhaps to many sleepless nights.)

When the day-shift nurses came in the mornings they noticed that the baby at the end of the row of cribs was always more content , and seemed to thrive quicker than the others. This didn't happen with one baby or two, but continuously.! New babies being born every day yet always there was something different about the baby at the end of the row. All the cribs were the same.what on earth could have made the baby in the crib at the end of the row so much more content than all the others.?

The truth eventually unfolded and it was a very simple truth. The night nurse loved babies and enjoyed taking care of each and every baby who needed her through the night, but at the end of her shift she would be on her way to the door and pick up the baby at the end of the row cuddling him/her talking to and sometimes softly singing to the baby as she rocked the little one in her arms.. There was no magic in the crib nearest the door, it was simply the baby nearest the door had just that extra love and attention every day. The baby obviously felt secure and content.Too hard to believe?. Think about it. As adults if something seriously upsets us how do we feel if someone puts an arm around us, speaks some comforting words? It doesn't make the problem go away but don't we feel just a little warmth inside that helps us to deal with the upset?

We all need shelter, we need food, we need clothes to wear but oh, boy do we need love!! We all have our differing beliefs but at this time of year I know there are millions of people who think of one particular little baby and the whole concept of the holiday at this time encourages loving and giving. If we could all just carry that feeling with us all year around then maybe many more babies will feel content. Many more children will know love and learn to love back like my little fostered niece.

I realise this world can be and is brutal which means I may sound to many of you as though I am a very naive "love and peace,man!" flower child from the 60s.. , but I don't think I am. I truly believe that a little love goes a long, long way...........