Love — not as cliche but for real — is the answer
What could possibly be most necessary in our crazy, messy world today? I think that nothing short of love is the answer. And before you write me off as an aging or lost hippie, I simply ask for a few moments of your time and a bit of consideration. Thoughtful consideration.
When is the last time you used that word — love? We seem to use it a great deal, sometimes without much thought. I love you and I love ice cream (guilty of both!) or I love that movie or I love those shoes — these phrases drip off our lips like rain drops off of spring petals. Easy. Free flowing. Without much thought. An exuberant, in-the-moment reaction to something delightful.
But how much more difficult is it to look at those who appear to be different from us; how much more of a struggle is it to prevent those three little words from sticking in our throats? Inaudible gasps that, somehow, do not hit the airwaves. How often does our own discomfort or, dare I say it — fear — prevent us from expressing our love for the wider world, even as we see it suffering? For, isn’t it that fear that prevents us from seeing others as extensions or variations of ourselves? Why are we unable to extend compassion to those in need, those with less, those who suffer or those who live in loneliness? I genuinely believe in the goodness of people, as I am sure most of you do as well, and yet, this struggle is real.
Are we not contributing to the lovelessness of life when we hold back our giving? Love, it seems, is always a letting go. It is important to remember that the Spirit and root of all traditions is a lesson in love and compassion, whereas the world teaches a different lesson — one of fear, one that shackles us in isolation. Love is the release valve, the key to inner freedom. Love is our foundation; it is why we were created and is who we really are.
One of my hopes — and prayers — is that, through this little monthly column, love and compassion may be spread a little more generously in a world that often focuses on scarcity. That this love will overcome the shadows of fear.
Please consider this an invitation to reconnect with your Source; to deeply return to the love that is our foundation. To move beyond the struggle of judgment and to overcome our perception of unworthiness and separation is our soul goal. To understand — in our bones — that my heartbeat is yours and each breath is a holy link to each other and to the world.
Our heart longs for the healing of a brokenness that runs deep. Let us live into that and ask this question at all times: How can I love them through this? For that is where our sacred power lies.