A boy who was listening to the song with me remarked sadly, "That song reminds me of my father and me."

Surprised, I asked, "Why?"

Well," he mused, "they are together, but there's no real closeness."

Sadness filled my heart because I knew that his father loved him deeply, although he seldom expressed his loves and cares to his son. Pondering the incident, I came to the conclusion that because the father was brought up in an undemonstrative home, he could give his family only what he knew of love.

When the boy was a toddler and wanted to kiss his dad, his father would explain seriously, "Boys don't kiss." Then he would take the tot's hand, adding firmly, "Boys shake hands." Consequently the boy seldom had been given a demonstration of his father's affection for him. Now he feels deprived of his father's love.

I wish I could write this with a pen of fire on every heart and every mind--Fathers, mother, love your children! Show affection! Kiss your children! Hug your children! Boys need love just as much as girls!

There they were loved and cared for by the patients. Twenty years later all 12 orphans who were lift in the institution, without love, had died or had been laced in a home for mental patients . The 12 that were loved and nurtured by the mentally retarded fared well. All of them had graduated from high school and were self-supporting and happily married.

Each child desperately needed love. Only those who received it survived or became normal adults.

Love is a learned experience. Some of us are more fortunate than others. We learned to love early from loving parents. But it we never have learned to love, it is in our power to change this unloved cycle, for it is never too late to learn to love.

We are told to "cultivate love" (see Testimonies to Ministers, p. 158). In the same way that we sow a tiny seed in the ground and watch it grow into a flourishing plant. we can become more loving.

Perhaps some have come from homes where the parents have been critical of others. (That's a form of nonloving.) But love can begin with you. Instead of looking for thins to criticize, you can begin by looking for what is good in people. Be not hesitate to tell them: "I like what you did; that was thoughtful"; "I like being with you, you're a nice person"; "Your hair looks nice to-day." At first it will be hard to begin to be loving. The lump in your throat may make the words difficult to express, but be brave and express the kind words that pop into your mind. When you see how happy it makes people, you will be searching constantly for loving things to say.

I once knew a woman who had as many friends as there are bees around a honey pot. One day I asked, "What is your secret?" for I knew she most have one. Smilingly she confided, "I always try to see Jesus in everyone."

The book The Sanctified Life tells us that love is an essential characteristic of God's followers (p.79), and we are God's followers, are we not?

Steps to Chest adds that "love, mercy, and compassion were revealed in every act of His (Christ's) life; His heart went out in tender sympathy to the children of men...

"Jesus did not suppress one word of truth, but He uttered it always in love. He exercised the greatest tact and thoughtful, kind attention in His intercourse with the people. He was never rude, never needlessly spoke a severe ward, never gave needless pain to a sensitive soul. He did not censure human weakness. He spoke the truth, but always in love."--Pages 11, 12.

We all want to be like that, be we not? and we can be! Jesus is our example.

It has been easy for me to express love. I owe that to my father. He is now 86, but he still bubbles over with love.

He has taught me to love sunsets, children, beaches, cats, and dogs. I love a lot of things because he taught me that it is right to love. I learned by my father's example. just as we came learn the deepest love of all from our heavenly Father's example.

Someone once told me that we should never love anything that cannot love us back. He was stern and serious when he said it, and I am sure that he believed it with all his heart. But I could not agree. I think we should love just for the sake of loving! If we put restrictions on love, it is not love. Jesus just loved. His love flowed out to others. But I believe that He also loved the sound of the sea, sunsets, His nice robe, and good food.

There are degrees of love. Maybe we have a new dress or suit. I cannot see anything wrong with loving it as long as I do so with thankful, appreciative love. Then there are the degrees of love in between--the love of reading, walking, study, the love of

friends and family. Then there is what should be our greatest love, that for our heavenly Father.

Did you ever wonder where this beautiful, wonderful love comes from? The Bible tells us, "God is love." When we love in His way, we come to know a little bit of God, just a little, but we can grow in loving. Remember, love is a learned experience.

As we learn to be more loving with our acquaintances, friends, and families, our love can grow so that we can reach out to the world, strangers, and the unlovely. We will be more effective witnesses for out Lord and Saviour. The three angels' messages will flow out to the world from loving lips, from loving people. We Seventh-day Adventists have the last-day message to share with the perishing world. We must be like Jesus, the greatest lover of all time. We can cultivate God's wonderful gift of love. Let it begin now--with you and me.