Love Transcends.

"My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you." John 15:12

The busy halls had quieted down by the time she set the baby back into the incubator and made her way out of the Shands NICU.

She took the shuttle bus back to the House and smiled at me as she walked through the front door.

"Hey! How are you?" I asked.

"Tired," replied the 60-something woman as she signed back in on the Ronald McDonald House sign-in sheet.

I checked the sign-in sheet. 8:45 a.m. That's when she left for Shands. The clock now read 8:40 p.m.

For almost 12 hours that woman held her grandson on her chest--near her heart. In the 12 hours she left twice. Once to use the bathroom and then to eat lunch.

"Because I have to because I am diabetic," she added, the sad look in her eyes clearly revealing she would rather skip lunch.

Every day she does that. Sunday to Sunday. She holds that sweet little baby and prays he gets better. She loves him back to health.

"I wouldn't have it any other way," she told me. "I know I'm biased, but I think he really is the cutest baby in the world."

"He's precious," I replied, smiling as the sweet grandmother pulled out a picture of him.

Then, she wearily walked into the kitchen. Dinner was cold. There wasn't much left. But she sat down and ate it. More out of exhaustion I think.

***

That's love. That's what love is. Love is holding somebody until they're all better.

We get so wrapped up in what we need to do, what we want, and what we need to do to look like the good Christian.

But that doesn’t matter. God calls us to Love. It's that easy. Or maybe that hard.

Look at how much He loves us. He send His SON to be nailed to a cross so we could have a wonderful life. That's how much God loves every single person in the world. Enough to let His son die.

If we could all just love every one we met like that grandma at the Ronald McDonald House loved on her grandson, think of the people we could help.

Sometimes it's hard. But it's always worth it.

I wish I could hold the whole world long enough for them to get all better. I wish I could hold them close enough that they could feel God's love.

I can't hold the whole world. But I can try to.