demanding love

Love and pity and wish well to every soul in the world;
dwell in love, and then you dwell in God.

-William Law

Loyalty is the quintessence of love. When two people tell
each other, "As long as you do what I like, I'll stay with
you, but as soon as you start doing things I don't like, I'm
packing my bags" - that is not love; that's convenience.
Loving somebody means that even when they trouble you, you
don't let yourself be shaken. Even when they are harsh to
you, you don't move away. Even when they make a mistake that
hurts you, you don't go off and make the same kind of
mistake to hurt them.


All of us are so liable to human error that unless we have
some capacity to bear with the errors of others, we will not
be able to maintain a lasting relationship, which is the
tragic situation that many people find themselves in today.
We should never settle for this unhappy state of affairs.

~Thought for the Day by Eknath Easwaran~

*******************************************

Wendy says: Many forsake love and take it for granted that when we are loved in return do we give ours. Love is treated as money, something we have earned through labour or something that we gain through the selling of skills. Therefore it is hard for us to love others freely without the seek of gratification and rewards. But love is not like money and it is definitely not money. We don't have to work 24 hours a day to produce love because love is in us all the time. All we have to do is to look within and feel its warmth overflowing that we have no choice but to share with others. This is true giving without demands and it is not just talk. It is possible as this is the law of nature. But it is sad that this natural flow of love is concealed by the very material and physical comfort that we mistakenly believe will make us happy. If we see and understand this paradox and the ridiculous joke that we play on ourselves and others, then we break the chains that bind us. It only takes 1 second for this awareness to arise but one life time to realise it.

Peace and love to you.