November 5, 2017 by Amy
The Little Girl Who Loved
A short story…
…for Judy, on her birthday
Some years ago, God made a little girl so full of love and empathy that her tiny body simply couldn’t withstand the pressure. Sometimes these things happen. The capacity to love is greater than the vessel given to hold it. The force of the amazing power of love, especially in someone so small, exerts pressure on the mere physical, human manifestation. Things on the body go a bit haywire, at least according to accepted standards. But some of us know the truth.
Native Americans don’t have a word for “disability.” The closest they come to it is a word that roughly translates to “different,” and it’s a difference in the very best possible way. They believe that those with disabilities bring the tribe closer to the spiritual world, and offer new types of learning to the community. They are right. In our case, for the lucky people who know the person the little girl grew to become, well, we have been the unworthy recipients of this rare, unmitigated, unwavering, unconditional love. We have, through her example, learned how to better love those around us.
The little girl didn’t know any of this when she was growing up, and unfortunately, neither did her parents. The little girl didn’t know what would happen when she grew up. Life, up to that point, had been a series of disappointments and misunderstandings. Her trust was abused, and her love was deflected instead of accepted. It’s easier to run away from power you do not understand, love you can’t comprehend. All she knew was that she wanted to love and to be loved. It wasn’t so much to ask, she thought. Love, after all, was so easy for her to give. She was right, of course. It’s ironic, really, that she had been born into a family where it was hard to show love, difficult to even accept love. It was easier to show criticism. It was easier to sow dissension and anger, to cultivate grudges, to nourish insults. Still, the love inside the little girl continued to grow, continued to overflow its banks, spilling out on everyone who came near. Perhaps God thought that by placing her within that family, she would soften the hard hearts, she would shine a beacon of light into the darkness.
Despite their inability to provide the support she needed, the little girl’s parents managed to raise a child who became a woman with an undiminished capacity to love. If anything, the love within only grew. She serves as a new biblical parody, the lesson being that even within arid, barren soil, a flower can indeed grow. The mustard seed can indeed thrive, and provide a place for others to find shelter from the cold, harsh world. And still, the power of her love strained at the physical boundaries of her body. Where does all that energy go? Doctors and medical experts are flummoxed by her symptoms, but some of us know the truth: the love is breaking through the restraints.
Lots of people in the world love, and they love in different ways and they express their love uniquely. There are some, though, for whom love transcends everything else. The little girl was like this. The woman today is like this. Even when she is trapped by pain, pushed to the brink of a hateful abyss by the behavior of others, her love continues to burn brightly within. She can’t help herself, can’t help loving even those incapable of returning the sentiment. Compassion often gets the better of her, and she becomes the target of those less fortunate, those incapable of accepting the great portioning of love.
Why does God bestow a great capacity to love on some? We’ll never know. All we can do is identify those people and surround them, as much as we are capable, with the love they so freely give. It must be exhausting, to love so hard. It must be terrifying, the constant need to offer a gift few can even recognize for the power it holds.
Thankfully, the woman finally found a place where her love could take root, could be reflected back to her in a myriad of ways. She surrounds herself with people who not only encourage and accept her love, but who embrace her supernatural capacity. Even while her body continues to struggle to contain the incredible amount of love held within, she carries on, offering her gift to everyone who knows her.
Those of us lucky to be in her orbit, those of us lucky to be on the receiving end of all that love, are among the most blessed on earth. For there is nothing greater than God’s own mighty love shining through his daughter.
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