%PDF-1.7 1 0 obj << /Type /Catalog /Outlines 2 0 R /Pages 3 0 R >> endobj 2 0 obj << /Type /Outlines /Count 0 >> endobj 3 0 obj << /Type /Pages /Kids [6 0 R 17 0 R ] /Count 2 /Resources << /ProcSet 4 0 R /Font << /F1 8 0 R /F2 9 0 R /F3 10 0 R /F4 11 0 R /F5 12 0 R /F6 14 0 R >> /ExtGState << /GS1 15 0 R /GS2 16 0 R /GS3 19 0 R /GS4 20 0 R >> >> /MediaBox [0.000 0.000 612.000 792.000] >> endobj 4 0 obj [/PDF /Text ] endobj 5 0 obj << /Producer (dompdf 1.0.2 + CPDF) /CreationDate (D:20250713100355+00'00') /ModDate (D:20250713100355+00'00') >> endobj 6 0 obj << /Type /Page /MediaBox [0.000 0.000 612.000 792.000] /Parent 3 0 R /Contents 7 0 R >> endobj 7 0 obj << /Filter /FlateDecode /Length 2130 >> stream xX]o}Kp}Xݗ \(DYH]3r< )'N(Zп913U gb ҎzR ӆ(ؤ>T̗iF`~2\>}ݧ/F/UnӰ\ciD߳ɱQA,y8ᛞc'1/Y*?[9jcFjjaet'}?3D0#N vԅ&p"a6|+Q;# Xm#`٣vO0o1*|l/O {NG~ZN阧u2項P! ;&GD+/a A ^?ă!67Brr}`|d\ v{کb@bѥFC 0Yƃ-k9rhsLm4߁HfWanM'#%;p@4Yqы<Աu'&iEOȄ *lo&%$Y 453qֱy#1TK8۰S}OXp&z n e=)Pu N['&"(}DpQ] X.VX-@'Z6@IےvR(æx/!p0^cwo=R3ĒZ"6I v;kNs@FQg*c QD;iA_GbtN(pKՎ(ܫHQ&MLxݫlN=Yr)̕%-@=I^P){S{CHSC8T|qhYy:H; g%!,W Ԣ`ǞvP.zTE ހȥ%B!gkUL琏ܲ=F0k#h8$%=˚GRP.&:M:89h{QxsR4Cv>uqͥQAAq8ODc9@-*Z:p"vliR!""Ocʳ u; 34@s{1@d=V{5p2qusuFx eMR޾'lh rR=5?SEu^&,"X;QBoCWYU)[c(ːܓG~8+W ۲< ﯯk0v-Ŝ@vUήG)05iFی,}Txq,=̿: b@> endstream endobj 8 0 obj << /Type /Font /Subtype /Type1 /Name /F1 /BaseFont /Helvetica /Encoding /WinAnsiEncoding >> endobj 9 0 obj << /Type /Font /Subtype /Type1 /Name /F2 /BaseFont /Times-Bold /Encoding /WinAnsiEncoding >> endobj 10 0 obj << /Type /Font /Subtype /Type1 /Name /F3 /BaseFont /Times-Roman /Encoding /WinAnsiEncoding >> endobj 11 0 obj << /Type /Font /Subtype /Type1 /Name /F4 /BaseFont /Helvetica-Bold /Encoding /WinAnsiEncoding >> endobj 12 0 obj << /Type /Font /Subtype /Type1 /Name /F5 /BaseFont /Times-Italic /Encoding /WinAnsiEncoding >> endobj 13 0 obj [6 0 R /Fit] endobj 14 0 obj << /Type /Font /Subtype /Type1 /Name /F6 /BaseFont /Times-Roman /Encoding /WinAnsiEncoding >> endobj 15 0 obj << /Type /ExtGState /BM /Normal /CA 0.3 >> endobj 16 0 obj << /Type /ExtGState /BM /Normal /ca 0.3 >> endobj 17 0 obj << /Type /Page /MediaBox [0.000 0.000 612.000 792.000] /Parent 3 0 R /Contents 18 0 R >> endobj 18 0 obj << /Filter /FlateDecode /Length 925 >> stream xU6W̱,KKfPt(z,E*$r3y3f0A of{Zkki /Es(tC۟K#<~捙1@'4݀3`QTj~ G:|'<_oQ^sM&cU3j(AX3Ro?-NL|B;B&TB+}j5!R|&JztKOjl;:!{\2!=I#HC$| xxf@5z;g .!Q)ʉ1aI2(/ =h Ô@ Nw,Hf.-A,-!0$9<BI&9vfv_nu:YMP!J)jN0+"pZ@3qB\ FN|G±Ȓc{^²R߉V|f~iMVV$eqxfn_$ƶW/o:+sy˲v2)Iy:@u[Ōׯ/_]E=$kͮ4YH endstream endobj 19 0 obj << /Type /ExtGState /BM /Normal /CA 1 >> endobj 20 0 obj << /Type /ExtGState /BM /Normal /ca 1 >> endobj xref 0 21 0000000000 65535 f 0000000009 00000 n 0000000074 00000 n 0000000120 00000 n 0000000401 00000 n 0000000430 00000 n 0000000579 00000 n 0000000682 00000 n 0000002885 00000 n 0000002992 00000 n 0000003100 00000 n 0000003210 00000 n 0000003323 00000 n 0000003434 00000 n 0000003463 00000 n 0000003573 00000 n 0000003632 00000 n 0000003691 00000 n 0000003796 00000 n 0000004794 00000 n 0000004851 00000 n trailer << /Size 21 /Root 1 0 R /Info 5 0 R /ID[<1a232360c5fcd4db7bcf6531a19f0eef><1a232360c5fcd4db7bcf6531a19f0eef>] >> startxref 4908 %%EOF On the Corner | Caring Magazine

Vol. #28

Grace Uncovered

Read Issue

Latest Impact StoriesView All

Popular Topics

PopularView All

On the Corner

November 30, 2000
3 minute read
Total
0
Shares
0
0
0
Listen to this article

BY ROBERT DOCTER – 

I like to tell you about personal things–my thoughts and feelings–my worries and concerns –my joy and my sorrow. When I tell you about these things I feel more connected to you–like we’re all part of the same big family. Anyway, here goes.

I am in awe at the non-linear nature of love

Our family recently welcomed Isabel Diane Studt to be a full-fledged voting member and 100% participant in family affairs. Her parents, Mary and Eric, gave us our eleventh grandchild. She is a beautiful brunette with gorgeous dark eyes, soft creamy skin, a massive sucking reflex and an innate sense of worth that allows her to make her needs known.

As my heart fills with love for this infant I realize that in loving her with all of me, I am not required to subtract any love from others. The supply is never consumed. The more I give away, the more I have. It’s super-saturated. As I become filled even more with that indefinable substance of love, I sense reciprocity from Isabel and this changes me in unexplainable ways. Each adds to each and gives in return.

Isabel was born on the same day as her great-aunt, one of my favorite people in the world. Somehow, I hope Isabel Diane picks up some of the same characteristics as her Aunt Shirley–always cheerful, always kind, always thinking of others, always working, always there when needed, always learning, always self-sacrificing, never cruel or hostile, never demeaning, never afraid to make her views known. I’m happy she shares a birth date with Isabel.

As you might guess, her grandmother’s name is Diane–the most beautiful name in the world. She’s from the same generation as Shirley, and they share many of the same characteristics. Is all that altruism I see in these two women still around? Is it available still for the next generation? It’s not a usable commodity, is it? I guess my father modeled well for my brother and me how to pick wives. Somehow, I believe Shirley and Diane have transmitted to all around them the contagion of a selfless, giving spirit.

I was in the birthing room shortly after the event along with Diane and our daughter, Julie. The room didn’t look anything at all like a hospital room except for the electronic gadgets monitoring everything. Isabel was doing what she likes best–eating, and when she was finished, Diane and Julie got to hold her. Then, suddenly, she was in my arms. I’ve had the experience many times, but I always seem unprepared. I looked down at her face, and a feeling of immeasurable joy washed over me with such intensity it was almost painful. Tears filled my eyes and something like warm, soft Jell-O filled my throat. Breathing was difficult, and I simply said “Thank you”–knowing God knew I was talking to him.

How does love expand so remarkably? How is it that it’s so limitless? How in the world does God spread his love around to everyone–and do it so well–so evenly–always seeming to have just the appropriate intervention at exactly the right time? How does he do it? I don’t know, but I know it happens. I feel it.

Maybe that’s where the spark begins. Maybe that’s what lights the fire in my heart, the choke in my throat, the tear in my eye. God puts love there because he loves us so much. What we feel is the reciprocal process of his loving us, which we, then, can share with those around us.

I think Isabel’s 5-year-old brother, Gabriel, is beginning to experience this. At the first meal as the family gathered for dinner with Isabel in her bassinet, Gabriel volunteered to say grace. He recited the usual four line poem children often say–and then he paused and said: “…and thank you for Isabel–please–let no harm come to her.”

Wow–more tears. Life goes on–and it’s for the living. Its energy is altruism. Its substance is that inexplicable quality of love. You only have it when you give it away.

Download this page as a PDF

You May Also Like