February 12, 2025: The Love Equation

When I was in college, an older couple at my church made me an unexpected promise: they committed to send me money to help with my school costs.

No strings attached.

Their generosity floored me. And sure enough, like clockwork, a check arrived in my mailbox every month for an entire year.

Funny thing is, I didn’t know them all that well. Yet they sacrificed their finances to give me an opportunity for education. The only return on their investment? My well-being.

I’m still amazed when I think about it.

Now, consider your own life. When has someone opened a door for you that you couldn’t have stepped through alone?

Hold that thought, because this week I stumbled across something fascinating: the most common symbol in math, one which appears in 94% of mathematical expressions.

What is it? The equal sign: =

We use the humble = to represent connections between ideas, from programming functions to ethical principles. But what does “equal” actually mean? At first glance, it seems simple. But when you dig deeper, defining it gets complicated.

We don’t all have equal talents, resources, or experiences. So, there must be a greater meaning than absolute sameness. 

To me, making things equal should always be synonymous with love. When it’s applied in a world full of extreme differences, magic happens.

Love has this mysterious ability to “equalize” what is imbalanced. It transcends logic or intellect or even legislation. Love is the great =.

On one side of the equation, giving love requires sacrifice. On the other, receiving love provides opportunity.

So maybe the equation looks like this:
Sacrifice ↔ Love ↔ Opportunity

Or, expressed another way:
Sacrifice = Opportunity

And often, the “=” takes tangible forms, like the ones which arrived in my college mailbox, month after month, without fail.