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Today's
quotation:
Love is never abstract.
It does not adhere to the universe or the planet or
the nation or the institution or the profession, but to
the singular sparrows of the street, the lilies of the
field, “to the least of these my brethren.”
Love is not, by its own desire, heroic.
It is heroic only when compelled to be.
It exists by its willingness to be anonymous,
humble, and unrewarded.
Wendell Barry
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Today's
Meditation:
We
could spend all day every day studying what people have
said and written about love, and still reach the end of
our lives without having come to know what love truly
is. On the other hand, if we were to dedicate
ourselves to trying to love unselfishly, without
recognition or validation, we can probably learn much more
about what love is and what it isn't.
Loving
my country or loving my job are not the same things as
truly loving our fellow creatures on this planet of
ours. If love is an action, then there must be a
recipient of that action, and there must be no
expectations on that recipient if the love is to be
true. Unconditional love rejects the "I'll love
you if" idea of love, and it reinforces the idea of
loving humbly and without any idea of return. If
love is to be true, we must give up any thoughts of being
entitled to anything in return for our love.
If
I can love truly, my life will be brighter and fuller, for
I'll be fulfilling one of my major purposes as a human
being. My true love also will provide a beacon that
other people can see and experience, and their lives,
also, may be just a bit brighter because I've dedicated
myself to giving of myself and my love without demanding
any sort of reward.
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