Love is Patient, Love is Kind…

by kingteamdad

RAMBLINGS from Connor King‘s dad – When Connor was little, Kris and I went out and purchased our first Nintendo. Like 90% of the youth today, Connor instantly got addicted to it. He would sit in front of it for hours playing “Mario”. He and his cousin Jacob could play non-stop forgetting to eat. It’s one of the few things I might do differently, if I had it to do over again. Years later, as I watched him finish high school and still forget to eat playing video games, I found myself concerned if he would ever grow up. Ever become a young man.

Yesterday Connor turned 21. We briefly celebrated his big day with a few gifts and Kris cooking him a big brunch. I then headed off to the office.

Last night Kris and I hopped in the car and headed 20 minutes north. Connor was working and we wanted to surprise him with some birthday dessert. We walked in the assisted living facility where he works with a fresh batch of cookies. One of his co-workers saw us and told us he was working with a resident and would be free in 5 minutes. He walked out smiling, wearing his pager and walkie-talkie, looking more like a first responder than a CNA. We gave him his cookies and once again celebrated the big day.

Connor was working in the special memory care unit. He mentioned a resident who goes out on a date almost every night for dinner. Her husband comes and picks her up, often having to reintroduce himself to her. Wow! Thats dedication. Thats love!

He talked about another resident who is about to turn 100. Her son comes by every night to see her. She doesn’t remember much. But, she remembers him. Wonder if that has anything to do with his coming every evening to see his mom? Wow! That’s dedication. That’s love.

A few minutes later a very nice lady from Jamaica came out of a room where she had been with another resident. She introduced herself and asked if we were Connor’s parents. (Actually she thought Kris was his sister!) She gushed about the fine young man, Connor. She complimented him on his compassion for the residents at the facility. She complimented him on the love and care that he showed for all of them. He missed parts of it as he walked off several times, to check on one of the residents when his pager went off.

Finally after complimenting us on our first born for 20 minutes, she left for home after another exhausting day at work.

The same kind of work Connor has done this semester.

Maybe the video games didn’t effect him as much as I thought…..

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“If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal…and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails….When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.” – Paul, a tent maker in ancient days