Liz, I Loved You – Ken Ebright
“Dear friends, we should love each other, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has become God’s child and knows God.” (1 John 4:7 NCV)
“Liz, I loved you,” were the words that I heard my dad scream while we were sitting in the car waiting for the police to arrive at the bridge. I had found a note a few weeks earlier in the kitchen when I came home from playing. I asked my mom about it, and she said she wrote it because she was mad.
At the time I was fourteen, and I was mad at my mom for disciplining me. She was a recovering alcoholic, and she had been trying to be a better mother. My mom was estranged from my dad, and because of my mom’s drinking, my parents were always fighting.
The actions towards my mother by my dad and myself were not very loving. As a result, she took her own life. My dad most likely could have done more to be a good husband, and I was immature and ungrateful. This was not a happy ending; we both failed. We will never be able to change the fact that we did not show her know how much we loved her.
Thankfully, with Jesus, our failures can be forgiven because He took the punishment we deserved when he died on the cross. That is how much he loves us.
How many times do you tell your family that you love them? Do you let the problems of this life get in the way? Does tragedy have to strike to get you to realize how much you love the people in your life? Don’t let the tribulations of life stop you from saying these words: “I love you.”
Ken is a native Minnesotan and loves to sing and can play a keyboard instrument. Contact | 
