Memories of Love

In a conversation I was having with my friend, we began discussing a movie we had seen.

In the film, a woman had lost much of her memory. She didn't even recognize her own children. During one scene, her son, bitter about everything that had happened, was talking to her. She had believed in God, kept her faith even in times of trouble. And now, he said, look what had happened to her. He lived his life completely differently, and things had gone well for him. In fact, throughout the movie, he had proved himself to be self-centered, unkind, uncaring. The man asked his mother, not expecting any real answer, what was the point? He lived selfishly as a bad person, and his life was good; she lived selflessly as a good person and she was an invalid who didn't remember her own family.

To his surprise, the woman answered him, giving a spiritual-oriented explanation to what he had said. Her words proved that she had not forgotten everything of her life; she still had her love for God. There was much she could not recall, but her faith in the Lord, her knowledge of His word, was still there in her mind.

My friend, who is a registered EMT, told me about a case in which she and a few other medical technicians were speaking with a woman who was losing her memory. She had to be reminded several times who they were and why they were there. She also asked repeatedly who her husband was. Despite her difficulty remembering these things, she was holding her husband's hand the entire time. The connection was still evident, though her memory was poor.

A couple of years ago, my father and I saw a woman we knew, but hadn't sen in yeas, The last we had heard, her husband had Alzheimer's. She told us that she had been taking care of her husband, and he had passed away not long ago.

Then she told us a story. She would often ask her husband, "Do you remember my name?"

To this, her husband would reply, "No... But I know that I love you with all my heart."

Her husband had forgotten a great deal, even unable to recall the name of a person he had known for decades. But he still remembered that this person was important to him, still remembered his love for her.

What is love, and how powerful is it? Are there some things that are so strong, they overcome everything, overcome times of hardship, overcome injury, overcome illness? The woman in the movie still had her belief in God, still had love and wisdom shining through her as evident signs that her illness had not entirely robbed her of her identity. The woman my friend saw was still holding her husband's hand, even though she couldn't remember who her husband was. The man still remembered his love for his wife, despite being unable to recall her name.

Love is indeed powerful. We may do a multitude of impressive things, we may have a great deal of knowledge, we may have a lot of money or possessions. But none of it has the same power, the same capabilities, as love. These people's memories were deteriorating, there was much from their lives they no longer knew, but they had not forgotten everything. The woman in the movie still had her love of God. The people my friend and I discussed still had their love for their spouses. We may lose many things, but love never fails, always endures.