Greatest Love

Greatest Love

  I found the greatest loves of my life when I learned how to love people inside out. I learned that the outer shell was only a peek at the person within. Of course, we must be attracted to something, before seeking the inner being...be it a smile, laugh...or just a sense of humor. However in some rare cases, the inner being will shine through the eyes of those that we may have over looked.

  Whatever brought us to this place seems irrelevant...for now all that matters is that we are here...together. Our inner light is that part of us that connects to others on a higher plain. It is our soul or spirit...our core. I have always been of the belief that our center...or core is the very thing that we started with. Our core comes from God; it is the very loving nature He instilled in us. It is the part of us that allows us to connect to others...similar to how magnets attract one another or how light will attract a moth. It is what brings us together...and sometimes, sadly, tears us apart. The core of us is what hurts when we see another human being in pain. It is the part of us that is moved to protect our environment. Our core is what causes 9000 people to search for an 8 year old autistic boy in Virginia...someone that most did not even know. Our center is the part of us that prompts an illegal immigrant to put his life on the line to save a little girl that he didn’t even know...placing his own citizenship at risk. It is the thing within us that has us get our bone marrow checked to see if we can save the life of one person...which can be a painful process. It is doing the right thing...without a second thought. This is our origin...what every other part of us is based on. This is our purpose under Heaven. And as long as we are listening to our center...our core...our spirit and soul...we are doing Gods work.

  So what happens when we are doing everything else? What happens when we watch someone who is broken down on the side of the road and we just drive past? What happens when we hear someone yell for help and we act like we don’t hear them? What are we thinking when we tell socially acceptable lies...and still teach our children the importance of telling the truth? Why do we make excuses for behavior that we know in our hearts to be wrong? What message are we sending when we punish a murderer by becoming murderers? Where are our hearts when we are telling our law enforcement officers to stop worrying about crimes and just look for people who have a “criminal look”?

  These may seem like extreme cases, but are they really? Or do we just say that to take attention away from the real issue? How do we have balance when the scales of our lives are so obviously tilted? Native Americans believe that within us we have two wolves...one wolf is positive...loving...caring and compassionate. The other wolf is negativity...adversity...violence...anger and rage. In some Native American culture it is said that the wolf that we feed or cater to the most becomes the winner of our internal struggle.

  This is really the old story of good versus evil. The one that we allow to grow...becomes the victor. But the truth is this...God created all things, ideas and situations. Why would God, who loves us, create something that could eventually lead to our downfall? Some believe that the reasoning is this: He allows us to decide what we want for ourselves. He allows us to make our own noose and decide if we are going to hang ourselves or others. He allows us to make friends or enemies. We are allowed to show compassion or contempt. Why are we allowed to even know of a choice which could cause us or others pain or anguish? Because, we know what the right thing to do is...it is in our core. We have been equipped with the only thing we ever really needed to get by...love. We have always been equipped with the love of our Creator...which arms us with the knowledge that we are supposed to love others also.

  Why is doing the wrong thing so easy for most? Doing what is wrong is easy because it is acceptable and most of the time it is expected. We expect people to cheat, steal and lie to us. We expect people to disrespect us or those around us...so we continually watch for it. We look for deception because we really believe that all people will be tempted to deceive. We expect our fellow man...that was created with the same divine love that we were...to do us some huge disservice. Unfortunately, a lot of the time...we aren’t disappointed.

  Of course, we choose to live this way. We choose to allow people to do the opposite of what we know is right; then we they do this evil...we just nod and smile, as if it is okay. We become complacent. We choose to sit the fence, instead of standing up for anything. And in our complacency...we have failed God. We have said so much...by saying nothing. When our hearts are crying, yet our mouths fall silent and our heads hang in shame...we have betrayed ourselves and Our God.

  The important lesson in all of this is that any injustices that we fall upon silent ears about...are injustices that very well may come back around to destroy us, as well. Never say that any given situation could never happen to you or anyone you know. By now we should all understand that just because we think we have stuffed a wrong in a closet doesn’t mean that is goes unnoticed. God brings everything to light.

  It is our job to defend those who are wronged...no matter who the oppressor may be. It is our job to shine light on those who pray on the defenseless. As people we do our best to stand up for children...and since we were all created from God and are His children...why do we not defend our fellow man? Why do we not stomp our feet and scream to the top of our lungs every time someone is treated with malice?

  War does not create anything...it destroys us all. Do the soldiers of war ever come home feeling happy; and if not, why? War only creates the need for larger cemeteries...larger orphanages...and more wars. And by the way, wars are not only fought with guns. Wars happen at the work place, in our schools and in our neighborhoods. A sharp tongue is worse than an assault weapon. Guns are fired and they kill...where as words can continue to injure and re-injure us. And like in a war...once we have been fired upon...we will retaliate...and it won’t matter if it is justifiable or not.

  Peace starts within us...and once we have it we can share it with the world. We only need to nurture the love that we were created with...and then we give it out to everyone we come into contact with. We smile, greet and acknowledge our fellow man and woman...and with those simple gestures...love blooms. Love is never out of season and you can never have or give too much love. It will feel strange at first...but that is just because we are out of practice. Give love...receive love...Be love.