Love Wins!

As a kid, I looked forward to Sunday School. My teacher brought snacks. Mary Lou thought I was cute. Our classroom was on the second floor of a very old building that used to be somebody’s house and that was much better than the sterile cinderblock building where most of the other classes met. And, of course, we learned religious stuff. But what turned out to be the best part of Sunday School, at the time, was when my teacher mentioned having been a competitive tennis player in her younger days…she was old now, maybe 50. And, she offered to teach any of us how to play the game. My hand was the first one waving in the air. So began my love of the beautiful game. Now that I know what old really means, I watch professional tennis on TV, wonderful events like the US Open that is about to conclude.

Now to the point. Tennis has a rather strange scoring system, and in that system the word “Love” means nothing. Well, it does mean something; it has no value. Love equals zero in tennis. So if I say: Eddie is ahead of Roger 40-love, you know several things: Eddie is serving; Eddie has 3 points to my zero. One more point and Eddie wins, unless we go to deuce, or unless we end up 6-6 and have to go to a tie-breaker. Strange, right? But here’s the most bizarre thing: Love means nothing…valueless, zero, zip.

Now that I have reached adult maturity and have put my tennis racquet away; now that I reflect on the many years that I have loved and been loved, I come to this conclusion. Love means everything. Priceless. Jesus was right in all those Sunday School booklets he wrote and my teacher handed out to our class: Love is patient, kind…able to endure…love is a healing balm and a bright light of hope in the sky. Tennis has got it all wrong.

With whom will you share your love today? Who has loved you into the person you are today? Is today the day you will let someone know they are loved? I hope so. Love wins.