Living in Love II

What would happen in your life if you began to operate primarily out of love? What would happen if you began following where your heart was leading?

What if you speak the truth (as you understand it) to your co-worker because you care for her well-being, rather than confronting her out of fear or anger? (Fear that you will appear weak if you don’t go to war, fear that you will be considered an ineffective leader, angry that she isn’t Doing It Right, etc.)

What would you experience in your relationships if, each time you felt love welling up in your heart for an individual, you followed it, without knowing exactly where it would lead? “Was thinking of you and wanted to call/write/drop by: how are you? Is there anything I can do for you? I wanted to tell you how much I love you.”

How would your experience of work change if you approached it with love? Love for serving others, love for the work itself, love for the grace of even having a job!

What if your Quest for Knowing God or for knowing whether or not there is a God was fueled by Love (Love of God, Love for Truth) rather than fear of being wrong, fear of “eternal torment,” fear of looking/sounding/acting like “them” or fear of not looking/sounding/acting like “them”?

What would happen in your relationship with your Significant Other if you permitted love to cast caution (fear) to the wind and stood before him or her with a naked soul?

“O, Monte. Be reasonable!” I am! If love is what makes the world go around, if we were created by and for love, then living in love is the most reasonable thing you can do.

My experience is that when the conversation turns to love and people start talking about being reasonable they are usually hiding or running. Such people can’t see the eye for the mote. All the beauty and meaning of life is constantly filtered out by so-called "reason."

Love surrenders

Love is vulnerable

Love is fragile (but not weak)

Love serves

Love feeeeeels: affection, empathy, fondness, care, and passion. Yes, I know. Love acts and behaves in loving ways. But ask yourself this: What would happen if you told your "loved ones" that you were behaving/acting in a certain way solely out of a commitment that was void of feelings? How do you think they would evaluate your "loving" behavior?

"I don't feel like serving you. Actually, would rather be doing something else ... anything else ... but I have to keep my commitments. Grrrrrrrrr."

Sure, we don’t always feeeeeel like keeping the laws of love (respect, kindness, believing the best, etc.) toward others. However, if feeeeelings are rarely a part of your “loving behavior,” you might want to drop back, punt, and go to the sidelines and get to work on your heart.

Copyright, Monte E Wilson, 2010