Liebe

Love. L O V E.

To me, this is the most beautiful word in the English language. For some people, love is impossible to give, for others impossible to receive. But love is a gift. It is given freely and without reservation. There are no strings attached to love, it carries no connotation. It is merely love. Pure and unadulterated.

You may wonder why I am writing this, and to be honest, I am not entirely sure. I have been filling out my seminary applications recently and spending a lot of time meditating on my "statement of faith."

In  this "statement," I have to write about the people who have shaped my faith, the places I want to take it in my future, what the crux of my faith is. I keep coming back to that one word though: love. I just want to write that I love God, that his love lives in me, and because of it, I am able to fully love other human beings.

When I talk about loving, I do not mean romantic love. I mean agape. The love of others, mankind, the human race, the world. I know that I may be an idealist, but really, what's so wrong with that? I think it is possible for one person to make a difference, and I KNOW that the most powerful thing in our world is the love one person can have for another. Compassion and kindness are outpourings of this love, they are love manifest.

So, wouldn't it be awesome if instead of the time we put into sarcasm (myself included), or unfriendliness, or even romantic love, we reserved a small portion of that time to let the love within ourselves multiply? If one person can truly change the world, just THINK what the love of many could do. Give it a try, be a prism, and let your light shine into the darkness, your love blazing forth- a marvelous light.

Love others. Love yourself.