Cloverleaf Mall in Hattiesburg

The Family Motto

Consider the Simmons family motto and their daughter who demonstrated it.

Dave Simmons writes: I took Helen (eight years old) and Brandon (five years
old) to the Cloverleaf Mall in Hattiesburg to do a little shopping. As we
drove up, we spotted a Peterbilt eighteen-wheeler parked with a big sign on
it that said, "Petting Zoo." The kids jumped up in a rush and asked,
"Daddy, Daddy. Can we go? Please. Please. Can we go?"

"Sure," I said, flipping them both a quarter before walking into Sears.
They bolted away, and I felt free to take my time looking for a scroll saw.
A petting zoo consists of a portable fence erected in the mall with about
six inches of sawdust and a hundred little furry baby animals of all kinds.
Kids pay their money and stay in the enclosure enraptured with the squirmy
little critters while their moms and dads shop.

A few minutes later, I turned around and saw Helen walking along behind me.
I was shocked to see she preferred the hardware department to the petting
zoo. I bent down and asked her what was wrong.

She looked up at me with those giant limpid brown eyes and said sadly,
"Well, Daddy, it cost fifty cents. So, I gave Brandon my quarter." Then
she said the most beautiful thing I ever heard. She repeated the family
motto. The family motto is "Love is Action!"

She had given Brandon her quarter, and no one loves cuddly furry creatures
more than Helen. She had watched Sandy take my steak and say, "Love is
Action!" She had watched both of us do and say "Love is Action!" for years
around the house and Kings Arrow Ranch. She had heard and seen "Love is
Action," and now she had incorporated it into her little lifestyle. It had
become part of her.

What do you think I did? Well, not what you might think. As soon as I
finished my errands, I took Helen to the petting zoo. We stood by the fence
and watched Brandon go crazy petting and feeding the animals. Helen stood
with her hands and chin resting on the fence and just watched Brandon. I
had fifty cents burning a hole in my pocket; I never offered it to Helen,
and she never asked for it.

Because she knew the whole family motto. It's not "Love is Action." It's
"Love is SACRIFICIAL Action!" Love always pays a price. Love always costs
something. Love is expensive. When you love, benefits accrue to another's
account. Love is for you, not for me. Love gives; it doesn't grab. Helen
gave her quarter to Brandon and wanted to follow through with her lesson.
She knew she had to taste the sacrifice. She wanted to experience that
total family motto. Love is sacrificial action. *

Love is sacrificial action, and here is the greatest demonstration: "This is
how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the
world that we might live through Him. This is love: not that we loved God,
but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins"
(1 John 4:9-10 NIV).

We were lost in sin, but God loves us so much that He gave His Son to die on
the cross for our sins. God will save those who place their faith and trust
in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), turn from their sins in repentance (Acts
17:30-31), confess Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and are baptized
(immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38). He will
continue to cleanse from sin those who continue to walk in the light of His
Word (1 John 1:7-9).

Love is sacrificial action. It's a great family motto and for every
individual person, too. It reflects the love of the Heavenly Father who
wants YOU to accept His love, reciprocate it, and share it.

-- David A. Sargent

* Dave Simmons, Dad, The Family Coach, Victor Books, 1991, pp. 123-124, as
quoted in www.sermonillustrations.com.