TUESDAY
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Rod & Sunny: Photo by Bob
Gentry 8/5/1999
A Thought for Today
I’m in a hurry; I have no time to hate.
But I have all the hours in the days still left to me to give to love.
LOVE
Over the years, in attempting to define or redefine love, I’ve filled
whole books. I’ve said that “love, at best, is giving what you need to
get,” that it is “tied about the throats of cats, now near, now sounding
far away,” and “that it doesn’t matter who you love or how you love, but
that you love.” But I love, therefore I am is too simple. We may be lifted
on high by love, but to stay there we must continue to care for what we
left below, remembering that it is not only possible but necessary to
share our newfound love.
It may be that we have used the word “love” so much that its meaning has
become obscured. The dictionary tell us that love is (1) the profoundly
tender or passionate affection for a person of the opposite sex; (2) a
feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a parent,
child, or friend; (3) a person toward whom love is felt; beloved person;
sweetheart; (4) affectionate concern for the well-being of others; (5)
strong predilection or liking for anything; (6) the object or thing so
liked; and, finally, (7) the benevolent affection of God for His
creatures, or the reverent affection due God for them. Despite the
dictionary’s many definitions, love is both more and less than the
descriptions of those who do our thinking for us.
The supply of love will never exceed the demand, but it should. Love is an
attitude, and one for which we should not stray far in our actions toward
ourselves and toward others. The word “peace” is so often coupled with
“love” that sometimes the two words seem synonymous. Love is tranquility.
But it can also be the height of excitement, or, when one feels unloved,
the depth of depression. Most of all, love is another word for sharing. If
you go into the day and beyond the day with love in mind, then you are
probably as close to God as you can ever hope to be.
To love, you need not even be two. Alone, you can love and love honestly;
but if you expect a return on your investment, the surest way to guarantee
it is to love your God, Who will teach you to love yourself. Only then
will you be capable of loving yet another. The woman or the man who
complains that she or he, while loving, gave everything and received
nothing in return, has not stepped through love’s doorway. It is not
possible to love someone or something fully and not to be in receipt of
more than you have given.
Few of us are ready to love anyone else - even God - until we learn to
know and love ourselves. That isn’t easy, and it shouldn’t be. It is
difficult both to love that much, and - seemingly - that little.
- from "An
Outstretched Hand", 1980
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(posted 09/28/2002).
ROD McKUEN
CONCERTS
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Alexander
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Walk down the day easy, knowing your security is going where you go -
together.
If God could give His son for love, we can
offer up our smiles.
Love should be as endless as a life without
illness, a tree that grows within a climate of perfection during its
young years so that it becomes stronger against the onslaught of the
elements, a season of sunlight with only morning clouds for contrast.
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A PRAYER FOR MYSELF |
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I have stumbled
and fallen somewhere in this day. Raise me up again, my Lord, that I
might work for You, and in so doing work for my own salvation, and the
salvation of my brothers and sisters. If I have lied, enlarged on truth,
or made up fact, instruct me, Lord, in the true way.
If I have sinned against my neighbor, I have no excuse. If I have
coveted what is my neighbor’s, I have no excuse. If I have been
distant to a friend or stranger, I have no alibi that will justify my
actions, and if I think I have, teach me otherwise.
Take me from myself and let me serve You while I breathe Your air. Let
me worship You. Let me share Your kindness with those men and women of
God I know and will come to know. - from "An Outstretched Hand", 1980 |
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