A Little Bit of Love

My son shook me awake at 3:30 am to get the sunrise.  I am sure he wanted to make sure he was not left behind since I could not get him up yesterday.  After stumbling through the dark gathering my camera equipment and clothes, Lyle got dressed and we were off to get hash browns.  (Hash browns before the sunrise is our thing now)  Hardees wasn’t even open yet, but Lyle accepted McDonald’s over his favorite round ones simply because we were headed for the sunrise.  As I was pulling out of the driveway, the song “A Little Bit of Love” by Weezer came on the radio.  I love everything about that song - its beat, its lyrics, its mood, its vibe; everything.  It was great to start the day remembering that “a little bit of love goes a really long way” because I will openly admit I have struggled in this department lately.  We all have our good days and our bad days; yet the lyrics hit me right in the feels.  They are:

“A little bit, a little bit of love

Goes a pretty long way

Take a look at where you started from

And where you are today

You climbed mountains

Swam oceans

You got knocked down

And kept goin’
In the end you know you got to say 

A little bit of love goes a pretty long way 

All your wounds are healing fine
I’m so glad I got you in my life 

Now the winter frost is gone
Now is our chance to live the life we want 

A little bit, a little bit of love 

Goes a pretty long way 

Everybody, everybody’s lost 

And that’s ok 

Some show it 

Some hide it 

But there’s a battle 

We’re all fighting 

So if you’re looking for the words to say, 

A little bit of love goes a pretty long way 

Holding onto the rabbit’s feet 

Walking down the sunny side of the street 

Shadows creeping at your back 

You can forget em like an amnesiac

A little bit of love goes a pretty long way 

 All your wounds are healing fine I’m so glad I got you in my life 

Now the winter frost is gone Now is our chance to live the life we want 

A little bit, a little bit of love 

Goes a pretty long way.”

I caught myself tearing up - hoping Lyle wouldn’t ask what was wrong - contemplating all I have done in my past: all the mistakes, all the wrongs, all the deception, and ultimately all the ways I was not being the person God was calling me to be.  I found solace in this being a new day - an opportunity to be better!  I found peace in remembering we’re all struggling and it is from the experiences of those struggles we all can learn and grow from each other.  I found hope in remembering Swansboro United Methodist Church enabled overcoming an addiction to climb mountains and swim oceans because a little bit of their love went a really long way!

Full Extension is an Eastern Brown Pelican at full wing extension taking off from a dock.  This was the photograph that inspired a devotion to photographing wildlife in their natural habitats without disturbance.  I sat focused on the bird for two hours waiting for some kind of movement because movement always makes for a dynamic photo.  I could have ran up on it, but that seemed like cheating; so I waited - at the time of capture my finger and entire camera hand had fallen asleep.  The second I saw the picture - wildlife was it.  My wife will point out in passing the amount of patience I have to wait on an animal, yet I have very little patience elsewhere.  What can I say - I am working on it!

Ultimately, a little bit of love requires a little bit of patience.  Full disclosure - I failed on both fronts within two hours of the day.  Lyle and I were having a grand ol time at Bicentennial Park waiting on the sunrise - we bunny hopped, we ran, we laughed, and we watched a Hermit Crab.  I also spent a lot of time reminding Lyle to stay out of the water.  We were getting ready to leave and Lyle put his feet in the water - I lost it.  Every bit of that Weezer song left my mind and all I could think about is how we’ve been talking about listening lately for him to AGAIN disregard what I asked him not to do.  We had a “discussion” on the way home and I could see he was upset - he knew I was not happy.  

I caught myself mid-discussion on the drive home realizing that a lot of anger never goes a long way - there seems to be plenty of that in the world right now anyway.  If I struggle to show a little bit of love with my own son, how am I going to be with my friends, how would I be with a stranger?  I am not sharing all of this to point out how bad of a father I am or seek parenting advice, but what inspired this blog was how quickly I forgot to give “a little bit of love.”  It took one instance of the day to screw up all intentions of being loving - even a little bit.

Well now what - we have Weezer, an Eastern Brown Pelican at full extension, and a father failure; what’s the point?

A little bit of love begins with patience and if I can find the patience to give a pelican the time of day for takeoff, I can certainly find the time to be patient with my son.  There will always be times throughout the day testing our devotion to love one another, but the good news is we only have to find a little bit of love.  If you’re feeling frustration building, look for the little bit of love - just a little bit and offer it. 

I get it - it’s hard!  We will all have days where we are riding a cloud so high we could just love everybody to come plummeting down at the drop of a hat forgetting the word love ever existed.  As quickly as we can love, we can hate and I believe the secret between those two extremes is patience.  The reward of a little bit of patience with the pelican was amazing - think of what that could be when a community does that for each other!

Besides in the grand scheme of things, it seems too much energy is being wasted on anger, frustration, and disagreement.  I washed Lyle’s shoes off and used the hair dryer so he could wear them to school.  I ended up with a little extra unexpected work, but Lyle thanked me, hugged my neck, said he loved me, and headed off to school.  A little bit of love from my child smacked me right across the face.

In re-reading this, I probably wrote this more for myself to hear - I hope it helps you too!  Where will a little bit of love take you today?  What might be the unexpected work necessary to show a little bit of love?

May we all show a little bit love through patience today and in the days to come!

Keep plugging along out there - you’re doing just fine!

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