Heart Hope by Olga

He loves me…He loves me not… Do you remember how as a child we would pull the leaves off of a daisy one at a time saying those phrases in hopes of finding out that we were loved by the object of our affection? Of course there was no scientific proof or any emotional truth to the game, but it did provide us with an element of hope that if there were just the right number of petals on the flower we could be worthy of love. Isn’t it comforting to know that God’s love for us is not fickle or by chance? God’s love for us is unconditional, just because that is who He is. This was demonstrated to me a couple of weeks ago when my grandson Will and I went to see a kid’s movie called Open Season and afterwards, I was the target. He was hitting me and poking me and using me as a punching bag. (By the way he does not do it necessarily to hurt me, but it is one of the ways that he shows love, however, he needs to learn more gentle ways.) But the real kicker happened when I leaned over to pick up...

While watching the Today Show a couple of weeks ago, I was fascinated by one of the guests, Michelle Philpots. This young woman lost her short term memory due to a couple of head injuries that she suffered from vehicular accidents and since 1994 has not been able to remember the events of the previous day. She is living in a real life “Groundhog Day” situation with no chance of waking up from it. She can participate in everyday activities, such as driving a car and carrying on a conversation, but she does not recall the social memories--the interactions that she has with other people. This situation must be terribly frustrating for her and her husband, who knew Michelle before the accidents and memory loss, but married her even when he knew she would not be able to remember their life together. Now I would never wish to lose my memory or want it to happen to anyone else, but I do think that there are things we can learn from Michelle’s experience. If we could train ourselves to erase t...

A video clip asking Warren Buffett what the most important advice he had ever received was on Yahoo News this morning. The unusual thing about his answer is that it is not about finances, but about how to live your life. Here is his answer: "The power of unconditional love. I mean, there is no power on earth like unconditional love. And I think that if you offered that to your child, I mean, you’re 90 percent of the way home. There may be days when you don’t feel like it — it’s not uncritical love; that’s a different animal — but to know you can always come back, that is huge in life. That takes you a long, long way. And I would say that every parent out there that can extend that to their child at an early age, it’s going to make for a better human being." Mr. Buffett also went on to say that it was not just with words that his father taught him this concept, but by example. Although I know that I am not on the same level as Mr. Buffett, I would like to add a bit to his answ...