Dear Friends,
For us human beings, nothing is more important than love. We’re always looking for love from others; they’re always looking for love from us. That’s just how it is for us. Every interaction either warms us or chills us, depending on the love exchanged. If love is lacking, even our successes feel hollow. And we resonate most deeply with the spiritual teachings about love. They remind us who we truly are, and make our spirits soar. We’re inspired!
But consider now: is soaring on the wings of spiritual inspiration enough? Anyone can talk the talk, but what really matters is to walk the walk. Talk is cheap, but to live a truly loving life is no small feat. We were born to do it; the only question is, will we step up to that plate now, or later?
Every circumstance, every person we meet, calls for love. And, although we may dismiss them, we all have lots of loving inspirations and impulses. So everyday life is a great test for our souls—giving testimony to our lovingness or clues to what needs to change. Each encounter is an opportunity to listen to our heart, and provide the love the people around us need. Will we default to whatever habits we’ve formed that are less than loving? Or will we rise to the occasion as our hearts would have us do? Will we bring compassion when we could be irritated? Will we yield when life requires us to be flexible? And which will win: pride or the serviceful spirit of love?
Life is a test of our loving, but we’re not a failure when we fail. It’s a brave thing to be willing to step boldly into life and relationship, trying our best to rise to the moral standard of love. Many times we’ll miss the mark, but it’s no disgrace to aim high and fall short. In fact it’s a good thing, and tremendously helpful, to see where we’re going wrong, so we can work on correcting those things, one by one. We’re actually passing the test whenever we pick ourselves back up and work on doing better next time.
We need to be willing to be tested. We need to be willing to discover and correct our bad habits. Otherwise, we’re just stuck doing the same wrong things over and over, experiencing the same disappointing results, and disappointing others as well.
So don’t wait until you feel you’re already good at loving to jump in. No one ever got good at anything without practice. We are all destined to be great lovers, and mastery at love comes only through testing and practice, in life and most of all, in our relationships.
Love,
Your friends at LoveTrust