A Holy Place Of Love

A Holy Place of Love

You cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own.

Luke 14:33

A well-known Jewish legend tells of two brothers who shared a field and a mill long ago, when the world was young. One brother lived alone, and the other had a wife and family. Each day the brothers would work the land and grind the grain together, and each night they would divide the grain.

One day, the single brother thought, “It really isn’t fair that we divide the grain evenly, for I have only myself to care for, while my brother has children to feed.” So each night the single one secretly took some of his grain to his brother’s granary, to ensure that he would never be without.

But the married brother said to himself one day, “It really isn’t fair that we divide the grain evenly, because I have children to provide for me in my old age, but my brother has no one. What will he do when he is old?” So every night the married one secretly took some of his grain to his brother’s granary, to ensure that he would never be without. As a result, both of them always found their supply of grain mysteriously replenished each morning.

Then one night they met each other halfway between their two houses. They suddenly realized what had been happening and embraced each other in love. The legend is that God witnessed their meeting and proclaimed, “This is a holy place—a place of love—and here it is that my temple shall be built.”^a

A place of love is holy whenever mutual kindness overflows. We like to think it creates a bit of heaven on earth. And that’s exactly what happens when a husband and wife continually look out for one another’s needs within their home. When a man and a woman find reason to extend more for the other than for themselves, they create a heavenly and holy place together—a place where, as in a temple, God is honored.

Have you given up “everything you own” for your spouse’s happiness? How can you create a little heaven on earth for him or her today?

Love is when the other person’s happiness is more important than your own.

—H. Jackson Brown Jr.

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