Love Is.....

At the risk of sounding like I'm preaching....I wanted to share this "AHA" moment that I had on the meaninng of LOVE.

What is love?  Love is everything....not only in the sense that when you are loved or in love you feel as though you have and can be everything....no, it is much simpler than that.  Love, literally IS everything. 

It all began with God.  I remember something that was told to me in religious classes when I was growing up....For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 

Then our parents gave us love.  They worked hard to give us a life better than what they had.  They sacrificed to give us what they believed was important...in whatever form that may have taken. 

Then we learned about romantic love.  With hopes and dreams....we wanted to share everything that was good with the partner we chose for the rest of our lives.

Then we became parents ourselves...and with this we were able to understand so much more about how our parents loved us.  Even though we were caught up in the everyday busy-ness of life...for a few fleeting moments...at least 2 times a year (Mother's Day and Father's Day)...we celebrate what that love meant to us with gifts and usually the bounty of food.

As grandparents....the world has slowed down for us....now we can take the time to enjoy family, grandchildren and friends.  Although we have had friends throughtout our lifetime....the friends and family members that are still around us during this time of our life seems so much more to us....Why?  because we were so busy living and working and raising children, running family errands, shuttling the kids to play dates or soccer practice....we couldn't devote the time to just take it slow and easy with a deeper introspection of what and who are important in our lives.

But love goes even deeper than that.  Love is also unconditional.  Love is about continually showering our loved ones with a tremendous amount of love,  and without expecting anything in return.  Yet even deeper....it is about loving EVERYONE!  Even people we haven't met!

When we do this....we have unconditional love....we have the kind of love that God is giving us and this is the kind of love that he wants up to pass on to everyone we meet....when we do that we can heal the world.

Wow....what a concept!

I warn you....this has been brought to you from a fleeting senior moment of clarity, but profound nonetheless....don't you agree?