Love is a funny thing. People are forever trying to define love, understand it, grasp it or run from it. Songs try to spell it out but nobody can quite agree. Check out this small sampling:
What is love? Baby don’t hurt me, don’t hurt me…no more. (Haddaway)
All you need is love… (The Beatles)
We did it all for the glory of love… (Peter Cetera)
I would do anything for love… (Meatloaf)
I can’t help falling in love with you... (Elvis)
Love stinks, love stinks… yeah yeah (Adam Sandler)
The other night I think I finally figured out what love is... a small version of it anyway.
Have you ever heard of Fun Fusion? If you own Fun Fusion, you know what love is. The name is an oxymoron. The kids, they love it. It keeps them busy and quiet for at least 10-15 minutes and for that reason (and that reason alone) it’s a goldmine. Other than that, it has to be one of the most annoying things on the planet.
Fun Fusion is a craft project made up of little plastic perler beads that have to be set on a mold and then ironed (fused) together to create something “fun”. Like a dolphin or a teddy bear or a butterfly.
If your kids are under the age of 3 you probably haven’t heard of Fun Fusion. You can thank me for enlightening you later. Anyhow, if you’re a “visual” learner here’s a quick pictorial lesson for you:
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| An unopened, tidy box of Fun Fusion |
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| Perler Beads... these "innocent" beads really do find their way EVERYWHERE in the house. |
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| The base that the beads sit on until they are fused and the final product. |
Anyhow, in the process of creating a Fun Fusion doohickey, the beads ultimately get spilled on the floor, lost down the heat run, or eaten by the youngest member of the family. They end up all over the house. The projects can take a good 30 minutes or more to create and when Samantha finally gets all the beads just where she wants them, Amanda will ultimately knock into it and the beads will fly all over the place… and tears follow as Samantha has to do it “all over again!”
Sounds like fun, doesn’t it?
And on the off chance that someone actually finishes their project and I get it ironed before the beads get dumped, the finished, fused project gets admired for 20 seconds or so and then discarded in the toy heap never to be touched again.
Believe it or not, there is a lesson about love in all of this “complaining”.
I learned the other night that love is more than letting the kids play with Fun Fusion even though I really don’t like it.
Love is more than getting the kids to bed and then spending the next half hour ironing their projects.
True love is
1. Letting your kids play with Fun Fusion
2. Ironing a Fun Fusion project when you really want to sit on the couch for 30 minutes and watch your ONE SHOW OF THE WEEK.
3. Picking up spilled perler beads that YOU knocked over trying to iron the silly things.
4. Seeing the completed, fused Fun Fusion project discarded after giving up your free 30 minutes… but knowing you would do it again in a heartbeat.
And yes, this happened to me just last week. There were three projects that the kids finished and they asked me to iron them. I had put it off a few days already. It was Thursday and I really just wanted to watch The Office. But, being the good mom, I got out the iron and decided to get the projects off the mantle (is selfish motivation still love?) Anyhow, as I picked up the first one and brought it over to the ironing board, I knocked it. It doesn’t take much. Half of the beads spilled on to the floor. I sat there looking at the mess and it hit me. THIS IS LOVE.
The Bible would agree. Well, I can’t say there is any reference to Fun Fusion in the Bible but check out these passages:
Romans 5:8 – “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
1 John 4:9 – “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.”
John – “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends”
Jesus came as a man. He lived on the earth and he literally gave up his own life for us. That really is love. That is sacrifice. People have a hard time getting their hands around love because so seldom do we see such extravagant love. I’m fairly certain that Jesus didn’t want to go on the cross – he said it himself. But he knew that such a great sacrifice would bring even greater joy.
My sacrifice: to give up a TV. show to iron a project for my kids. I know it doesn’t even compare. It was hardly a sacrifice… and yet, for me, though small, it was. It was done out of love. And you know what? It felt good.
My kids were thrilled to find their projects completed on Friday morning. Paul and I often say, “It’s a simple life…but a good one.” And it’s a simple love but a love worth celebrating.
And if I could find so much joy in this… the love Jesus has for us must be infinitely greater! Oh happy day!
