Several years ago on Christmas Day, I sat in a hospital room with my sister while our Mother was dying. Mom would call out my sister's name over and over, but she never called my name once and she knew I was there. I was hurt deeply and I cried myself to sleep for almost a month after she died.

I was very bitter toward Mom and then one day God spoke to me and said, "She is not to blame. No one showed her My Love so she didn't know how to show it to others, even to her children."

I am convinced that the reason that people act so terrible toward one another and the reason that people kill, steal, and deliberately say hurtful things to one another is because they do not believe that anyone loves them.

Jesus has not been here for over two thousand years. He has left us to spread His Love and Compassion. Are you spreading the Love of Jesus to others? Do you feel the Love of Jesus for you?

I finally understood that it really was not my parent's fault that they didn't hug me and tell me that they loved me. It is because they had not been shown love and so they didn't know how to express love. It is like telling someone how to go someplace that you have never been.

I urge you to open your heart wider so that Jesus can pour His Love into it and in turn you can express the Love of Jesus to others. You never know, a hug that you give someone might literally stop him or her from committing suicide.

Joanne Lowe

January 30, 2005