There are a few moments in life when you get the privilege to see what love truly looks like. For the past year I have had the honor to sit each Tuesday afternoon with one of the most amazing men I’ve honestly ever met, named Doctor Lemmons. I had spent some time praying a little over year ago that God would bring some mentors into my life who could help me go to the next level of what God had for me. And one of those gifts came in the form of one of the sweetest men I know, Albert Lemmons.
We met over a dinner of ham, potato casserole and biscuits. (I’m willing to meet anyone over a dinner like that.) At the close of the evening I knew this was a man who had so much inside of him, and such a deep love for the Lord and knowledge of His word and I wanted it. I asked him if I could begin to meet with him weekly. I don’t think he thought I’d really show. But for the last fifty-two weeks I’ve only missed when I’ve had to.
The beauty of Dr. Lemmons is that he comes with Miss Patsy. Lord have mercy I’ve fallen in love with that woman. Every time I walk in their door she’s cooking something that smells so good. She’ll send me home with cucumbers, tomatoes, watermelon, you name it. If she’s got it in her garden she’ll share it with me. And on Wednesday of last week Miss Patsy went into the hospital for quadruple by-pass.
Late that evening I got to sneak in to see her with Dr. Lemmons. And what I saw was one of the sweetest things I’ve ever seen. It was a conversation that didn’t need words, though it had some. He assured her she had come through the surgery okay. She wanted him to go home and get rest. But it wasn’t the words that impacted me. It was the “knowing.” It was the unspoken part that runs between familiar hearts of fifty-five years. It’s what words don’t need. And it was that “knowing” that produces, familiarity, comradery, appreciation and an intense, inexpressible love.
I’ve learned the deepest type of love can’t be expressed through words. They’re completely inadequate for fifty-five years of life together. They’re more known through a touch, through a look, through a smile, through simply being present. And I got to observe it in its purest, finest form. As Dr. Lemmons leaned over his bride and her eyes opened to take him in they didn’t need words. And I knew in that moment that is what every heart truly craves…to be known in such a way that no words are needed.
As we walked down the corridor of the ICU ward I wrapped my arm around him and said, “That’s your girl in there isn’t it?”
He said, “You bet it is.”
And we didn’t say anything else until we hugged goodbye.
There are moments that you get to be a part of that in this life, that if you blink, you’ll miss them you may never get them back. And that moment was one of them. Kind of like the way I won’t forget this picture that I took of these two older lovers laying in the middle of the old city in Jerusalem taking in each other as if no one else in the world existed. I captured it on camera and it may be one of my favorite pictures from my entire trip.
But the thing I know is this. I am known. I am known this intimately. I am known by my thoughts, by my raised right eyebrow, by my tears, by my laughter, by my smile…I am known in the deepest places of my soul. Always have been actually, and it didn’t take marriage to make that happen. You are too you know. You are deeply and completely known. Often we crave something we think we are missing, but often times if we look hard enough we will realize we’re missing nothing at all. Because for every need we have, every title we crave, every secret dream we ponder, there is someone who knows it, hears it and sees it…you are known. Go into this Christmas season remembering that the one that knows you came to earth to find you…His name is Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Prince of Peace, Everlasting Father, Bright and Morning Star and He knows you….He knows YOU.
