God speaks to us in a thousand voices each with the same clear message: "I love you. Please trust me on this one."
Love of self, love of neighbors, and love of God are the foundational stones of the world's religions. Spiraling out from the core of our being, our other loves are also cobblestones on the spiritual path: love of family, of partner, of friends, of community, of animals, of nature, of country, of things, of hobbies, of work. Love is not something that you just fall into, as the romantic songs suggest. Love is a spiritual practice. You can get better at it over time.
Begin by recognizing that you can't love others until you truly love yourself — body, mind, and soul. As you move through a day, be aware of love's expressions emerging from you or coming toward you — attraction, focus, absorption, desire, adoration, security, trust, empathy, caring, harmony, contentment, communion. Practice extending the reach of these feelings. It is through loving that we experience the love of God.
Love of self, love of neighbors, and love of God are the foundational stones of the world's religions. Spiraling out from the core of our being, our other loves are also cobblestones on the spiritual path: love of family, of partner, of friends, of community, of animals, of nature, of country, of things, of hobbies, of work. Love is not something that you just fall into, as the romantic songs suggest. Love is a spiritual practice. You can get better at it over time.
Begin by recognizing that you can't love others until you truly love yourself — body, mind, and soul. As you move through a day, be aware of love's expressions emerging from you or coming toward you — attraction, focus, absorption, desire, adoration, security, trust, empathy, caring, harmony, contentment, communion. Practice extending the reach of these feelings. It is through loving that we experience the love of God.
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Detroit
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Unsu...
Re: Love
Thu, January 22, 2004 - 9:45 AMWow! That is powerful and the truth! Even in my marriage, I grow to love my husband more and more. God truly allows that to happen, because it seems like whenever we come out of a bad situation we are a stronger couple and stronger parents. we always encourage each other, when he needs me to tell him to pray I do and when I need him to tell me to pray, he does.
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Re: Love
Thu, January 22, 2004 - 11:41 AMLoving yourself is not a very common idea. It seems that Christians in general believe it to be a bad thing.
What you said about not loving others until you love yourself is a very important idea that more people need to accept.
Love is a verb. It is action. Feeling love is good, but you must BE love, and SHOW love, in every thing that you do. It is very important that love is used as a VERB. Not so important to use it as a noun. Feeling love is something you and only you experience. Love MUST be given to others in our actions and deeds for them to be truly loved, and for you to be a loving person You can only be a loving person if you give love to others. -
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Re: Love
Thu, January 22, 2004 - 10:29 PMGreat posts, everyone. Lots to reflect on here.
Ray, sounds like you have a wonderful marriage.
We need to love ourselves totally, even the bad stuff in us. God does, and He accepts us for who and what we are. Of course, when we find something negative in ourselves we have an obligation to make changes, but not worry about it or let the negative aspect of something wrong in our human makeup distract us from having joy. We are only human after all, and frail. Yet loved so much by God, the creator of heaven and earth, the author of our being. Often when I look at the sky in all its colorful glory, I contemplate how much is the love of God, to do that just for us, make the sky so beautiful, place stars and planets around us, which are ever changing with the seasons. A reminder that we too change from glory to glory, if we but allow Gods' divine presence to fill us.
Looking at Mars this past summer, realizing that these generations alive now on this planet are the only ones who have seen it or will see it so close for 6,000 years-God telling us He loves us and is thinking about us, desiring us to find beauty in all of creation.
These wonders of beauty we take notice of and drink in, is only a fraction of the beauty God sees in each one of us. We also need to see that beauty in ourselves, and spread it to others around. -
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Unsu...
Re: Love
Fri, January 23, 2004 - 12:56 PMI totally believe that we do have to love ourselves first. The important thing is not to let that love become selfishness or conceit.
Yes, Anne marriage is a wonderful thing :)
I think you can find examples of God's love everywhere, everyday. I was blessed with a great mom who has shown unconditional love for me. No matter what I do she has always stuck by me, even when I messed up. God loves us like that. Yes he get angry because we sin, but He loves us enough to forgive us, help us through it and still love us the same.
Working in a operating room I get to see how amazing God really is, when you think about the human body and how it works. Our brain tells our heart to beat, our organs function together to keep us alive, and even when we get sick our body takes the neccesary steps to protect itself. Pregnancy was a very enlighting time for me, to have another life growing inside of you, is very overwhelming at times. God made us perfectly for His purpose. I am so amazed at all the awesome things he has done, and is still doing for us.
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