More Wisdom...

Spring, a time when a young man’s heart turns to love. The Beatless sang ‘All you need is love’. That is so true!

All we do need is love to live this life with any meaning. To fill the emptiness is a sense of purpose, to know that we are loved , necessary and relevant.

In English we only have the word ‘love’ but there are different kinds of love.

Friendship is the love dismissed. “To the Ancients, Friendship seemed the happiest and most fully human of all loves, the crown of life and the school of virtue. The modern world, in comparison, ignores it.”

Why? Perhaps we know it’s the most time consuming, the least celebrated, the one we could live without. Perhaps too, as few value it because few experience it.  We develop a kinship over something in common and that longing for camaraderie makes friendship all the more wanted. “Friendship must be about something,”.

Different than friendship, lovers, “are always talking to one another about their love” and “are normally face to face, absorbed in each other,” says Lewis. The danger in romantic love is to follow blindly after a feeling of passion. Then,  we celebrate the passion and think its absence means such love has died. Certainly, true romance is not so fickle. Though the feeling is useful In one high bound it has overleaped the massive wall of our selfhood; and planted the interests of another in the centre of our being. Spontaneously and without effort we have fulfilled the law (towards one person) by loving our neighbour as ourselves

This is our chief aim, the unconditional love of the Father given to us through his Son. Affection, friendship and romantic love are each the training ground for love to grow.  Yet, we are made to love and we are in want of it. To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. . The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell.

Father, thank You for teaching us to give generously without seeking recognition. Help me give to my neighbours with a heart full of love, reflecting the generosity of Christ. May my actions inspire others to serve and give freely, knowing that every act of kindness points back to You. Use our giving to spread Your love and grace to those in need.