Love: A Transcendent Gift

I was about 8 years old when I received what I would consider my first Valentine’s day gift, because it’s the first one that I remember.  

I was sick and had just left a visit with the pediatrician when my mom and I stopped in the pharmacy. I LOVED our pharmacy, the classic soda shop, and the owner who knew me by name. Mom and I would occasionally order a chocolate milkshake and sit in the black iron soda shop chairs while we waited on medication to be filled. This specific day, was a milkshake day for us.

We sipped on a chocolate milkshake before perusing the card aisle. On my trip down the aisle, I spotted a stuffed pink troll in a jogging suit that I just had to have. I still remember what it felt like to hold her and long for her to be mine. After begging my mom and her continually saying no, I put her back and moped over to the table where my milkshake sat melting.

After a short time, mom approached the table and announced it was time to go. Knowing that I wasn’t going to be getting that troll I headed for the card aisle to give her pink hair one last glance and sneak in a little hug. But she was gone. I remember the sinking feeling that hit my stomach and the small tears of disappointment that filled my eyes.

She was gone and I didn’t even get to say goodbye. (Now, I know all of this sounds incredibly dramatic. But for those of you who know me…you know this is exactly how it played out.)

Fast forward a few days to the morning of Valentine’s Day and imagine one of the best days of my life. I walked down the stairs with sleepy eyes, messy hair, and probably some mismatched pajamas to find my mom just standing there…waiting. She smiled widely and then scooted out of my view to reveal behind her a pink haired, blue eyed, pink jogging suit wearing Troll waiting for me on the dining room table. It was her…and she was all mine!

I screamed, and cried, and hugged mom tighter than I knew I could. I asked a ton of questions at an incredible pace about how she got it, how she tricked me, where she hid it, and why she would buy this special gift for me. I don’t remember her answers to how she got it, how she tricked me, or where she hid it. But I remember the WHY with all that I am.

Through tear filled eyes I asked “Why did you get her for me mama?” And her answer was simple… “because I love you.” And I cried some more. I could even cry now thinking back on that sweet exchange in the dining room.

See, we didn’t have a lot of money and I am the youngest of three girls. Three of everything to buy and a momma who was trying her best to make our little girl dreams come true. She always worked hard to make sure that we felt special…and for me, that was a pink troll on Valentine’s Day from the pharmacy where we sat and had a milkshake together every once and awhile.

Love is like that, ya know. It reaches out to you from a place deep within another and makes you see that you matter. Love makes you feel chosen through small acts of thoughtfulness. Love opens up a soul like nothing else can. Love transcends time and space and creates moments that never lose their grip on us.

Those moments from the pharmacy and in the dining room of my little white doll house of a home have never lost their grip on me. Love never loses its grip on you once it’s been wrapped tight around you.

That troll still lives at my house…26 years later. Now she belongs to my blonde haired blue eyed wonder of a girl and the love transcends once again.

I pray that we will dare to love another in vulnerable, soul bearing ways. And I pray that we will take the risk to be loved by another, allowing it to seep deep into our bones.

After all, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” (1 Corinthians 13: 4-7)

Love is transcendent. It is incapable of being appropriately depicted by the words of man. It is without border and cannot be confined to our human understanding.

Love anchors us to truth and holds us tight to one another. Comparatively, it allows us to drift into new and unknown spaces with the security of a place to return home. Love anchors and love lifts.

Love is conveyed in the silence of a gaze caught across a room. While it is also the sound of a voice that ignites emotion in you beyond articulation. Love bears silence and love bears sound.

Love is expressed in music and art and words and songs and touch. Yet it is so indescribable that any depiction of it just leaves us desiring more explanation or example. Love is an expression of the inexpressible.

Love exists between parents and children, siblings, couples, friends… and little girls with pink haired trolls. Love endures space and time. Love persists when much else fades away. It is held, not only in the moments we breathe but also in the moments we can only remember in dreams. Love exists and love persists.

Love is a mystery. A beautiful mystery that captures the attention and focus of everyone who has ever connected with it. Perhaps that is because in its truest form…it is a holy exchange between people created in the image of God.

May we be a people who dare to love because it is the truest exchange of God between us.

© Dani Hardy

February 12, 2020 // Love: A Transcendent Gift