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If we start from the premise that God is love, then anything, and everything in the known Universe must come from that love. Certainly there have been things that have altered love, but that doesn't make it right. People have perverted the concept of love for generations. People have used loved to justify some pretty evil things. Pure love can never be defiled, as pure love comes from the Creator of the Universe.
I'm pretty sure that everyone will agree with me when I say that there is a huge difference between loving someone, and being in love with someone. I can love my house, my car, my dogs, but that is completely different from me being head over heels in love with my husband. Of course there are days when I want to ring his neck, but the love I have for him is virtually unlimited. The question you have to ask yourself is this really a God kind of love, and why do I feel so differently with my spouse than I do anyone else on the planet. The answer to that question is simple, we were meant to be. Sadly when two people meet they often mistake love for infatuation. But that is a different topic altogether. What I really want to zero in on today is not necessarily the love between people, but rather the love that we should be operating in every minute of every day, and with everything we come in contact with.
If I asked a million people, What is Love, I would get a million different answers. They would range from marriage, to kids, to job, the list is endless. What love means to you, could be completely different then what your neighbor down the street thinks. Love in many cases is a product of your upbringing. If your family was functional, then you will have a different definition of love verses the individual who came from a broken , dysfunctional home. Sadly we have based our understanding of love on those things that go on around us, and this is the quint essential mistake that most people make. Without regard to how you were raised, where you lived, what you experienced, the true God kind of love never changes, and it has been changeless since the beginning of time.
I have said this a bunch of times, if one is not able to love themself, then it is nearly impossible to receive love from someone else. The foundation of true love comes from knowing who you are, why you were placed here in the first place, and realizing that you are in fact perfection. If someone truly realizes who they are, if they see themselves as Spiritual Beings, then love is ever so easy to grasp, ever so easy to display, and ever so easy to share. Sadly, the vast majority of the people on this planet haven't a clue as to who they really are, and this is the reason that love is absence from so many lives. How can one display love if they cannot feel the love that created them? How can one walk in love, if they themselves can't understand the love that created them?
One of the toughest things to do in life is to love the so called "Unlovable". There is no doubt that some people do evil in this world. You can hate the evil, but can you hate the person? Compassion needs to be in operation all day, every day. Compassion and love does not mean you have to condone evil, and hate, it means you understand that deep below the surface no matter who is displaying this hate and evil, there is someone who has been absent from love most of their life. That absence may have been self imposed, it may have been thrust upon them, but it happened to them, and in many cases it wasn't even their fault. Surely compassion should still be felt for those who have fallen victim to hate and evil. True Love will see any situation, and will still be able to feel compassion and love. Not always easy, but he who is without sin can cast the first stone. I've done plenty of things in my life that I am not proud of, and by human standards I should be horse whipped for many things, and yet my creator has forgiven me, and still loves me.
When we operate in love we no longer look at the surface, but rather, look deep into the soul of a person. No matter how hard hearted a person may be, and that hard heart is the result of never experiencing love, never loving self, so no matter how hard hearted, can you look with compassion on this person and feel love for them? If you can, so so awesome, if you can't then maybe you need to ask yourself why? The answer may shock you. If compassion does not flow, then I will tell you that you have not accepted the love of your creator, and you do not completely know the essence of who you are, and why you are here. Now this might upset some who read this, but truth is truth. Love drives compassion, and compassion can free someone from bondage. Ask yourself this: can you see good in everyone? When you look at an enemy, can you feel compassion? When you have been hurt by someone, can you feel love? If you cannot answer in the affirmative to each of these questions, then I would suggest that you take a look at how you see yourself, and ask God to show you why he created you in the first place.
Volumes have been written about love. Page after page, after page have been penned about love being kind, love being non-judgmental. You would think that with all that has been written that people would understand love, but alas, that is not the case. Only when, and I've said this before, only when you understand the significance of your creation, why you were created, and what you are, can you understand love, display love and compassion, and walk in that love and compassion.
If what you want for mankind is that everyone feel love, if you have compassion for all, and I do mean all, then I will tell you that you undoubtedly know and understand true love. There is such freedom when you feel this, see this, experience this. When you are operating in love, then life takes on a whole new meaning. When love is your guiding light, your compass, then you will see the face of God in all things. If you find it hard to feel love, if you are ever chasing after love, never quite able to catch it, if you feel void of love, then start asking God to show you your own significance. Loving yourself first, realizing that you came from love, is the only way to walk in total love, and let's be honest, why would you want to operate outside of that love? Love, live, learn, rinse and repeat.
Self-forgivness, releasing the past, and consciously choosing to alter my perceptions are three things that have helped me love myself and others more genuinely. It is very true when you say one must love oneself before being able to love another or receive love from others. Love cannot be found, only created, and that occurs within the human heart. The past nolonger exists, but by thinking about it, you bring it from the past into your present. That is why pain remembered is pain still. You have to release your past and let things go, because what is held against you here on Earth will be held against you in Heaven. That includes what you hold against yourself. Christ teaches us the importance of forgiveness.
ReplyDeleteI changed the way I perceived myself and my roles in life. Each of us is a co-creator created in the image of the Master Creator. When you change your perceptions, your world changes accordingly. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Do you hate your job, or are you thankful for all that it provides? Are you annoyed by slow traffic, or is it divine timing keeping you out of harms way? Choose something negative in your life and turn it into a positive. Choose something that upsets you or causes you pain. It's amazing when you actually see your reality change.
Another truth that has lead me to greater love is the realization and understanding that what is inside of us is what we see outside of us. In other words, we project ourselves onto our environment and the people in it. When we look at the world, we're actually looking at ourselves. I have done this a lot with my husband, but when I realized what I was doing and stopped, our relationship grew much deeper. It attained a resiliency. We've been married for 18 years.