During the Olympics this year, a video caught my eye.

It begins with a woman biking in the rain. Then we hear snippets of different languages as mothers begin to wake up their groggy children in bed. The same moms prepare meals, drive their children to the gymnasium, to dance practice, to the pool and to the volleyball court.

As the underlying piano music grows in volume, we see the children practicing their strokes, their dance routines and their volleyball spikes. Moms and dads watch them with bated breath, and then the video flashes to crowds erupting in cheers as the same children compete in front of massive audiences. It closes with tears streaming down the faces of parents and children, as they hug and smile.

Love Makes It Possible

The children did not automatically become great athletes. The love they received helped them become the people they are. All of us need such love. It doesn’t matter if we are young or old, rich or poor, athletes or couch potatos. When we experience love–when we give and receive it–we find God.

The Jewish sages make this quite explicit. In interpreting the verse that human beings are created b’tselem elohim, in the image of God, they ask the question: where did God place that image? Where is it? In our face, in our mouth, in our nose? No. God stored it in our hearts. The heart is where we find God.