The Thing About Love...

It's not easy. Love that is. It's terribly difficult actually, but it's the one thing that makes my life worth living. When I love and let myself be loved, there's the risk of experiencing a lot of pain and disappointment, I'm putting my happiness on the line. Yet I've learned that love holds the key to fulfillment and joy, even with all the hurt and unmet expectations. I've been learning for the last couple years that it's in the times of sorrow and conflict, when I really have to choose love over anger, that I've grown closer to being the person I want to be. The sorrow has made me more sensitive to other people's pain and to the fact that love is always better that advice.

The title of this blog comes from Kalil Gibran's book The Prophet. The chapter on love contains one of my favorite descriptions of love:
 
Then said Almitra, Speak to us of Love.
And he raised his head and looked upon the people, and there fell a stillness upon them. And with a great voice he said: When love beckons you, follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.

For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.
Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,
So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.

Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.
He threshes you to make you naked.
He sifts you to free you from your husks.
He kneads you until you are pliant;
And he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast.

All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart.

But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure,
Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor,
Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.


The purpose of this blog is for me to write what I am passionate about. When I think about it I realize I'm passionate about helping others experience love. There are countless people who have never known love, only suffering. It just takes a moment of self reflection for me to see that too often I don't look past my own needs and acknowledge the fact that everyday holds the potential to show a bit of love to someone else.

As someone who believes in the teachings of Jesus, I want to make it a point to love unconditionally just as he did. Innumerable times have I heard the title of Christianity be used as reason to condemn when really it should be synonymous with love.

So this is what I'm learning and writing about, how to love. I'll continue to post ideas and stories as they come to me. They may not always be about love, but that is the general theme here. Thanks for reading.