Love Anyway

Come Back to Love

When hate and anger threaten to overwhelm, come back to love.

I try not to judge the giving of love by the circumstances I see.

It is true that there are some people who are very difficult to love,
But that is all the more reason for me to love them.

Love in its essence is unconditional and independent of circumstance.
It is not “Love because…”
It just is.

Divine Love is without condition and human love has the potential to be a reflection of Divine Love.

I sometimes feel it is an impossible thing to achieve,
but perhaps it is a fine ideal for me to strive towards.
Learning to love regardless of the circumstance.

Don’t be a Doormat

And yet unconditional love does not mean that we must be doormats!
Love is not always meek, passive and martyr like!

I will squish a mosquito if it is sucking my blood.
That doesn’t mean I don’t love it.

I will defend my daughter if she is in danger from an animal or a mugger. I will defend her life by violence or even by killing, if it will save her.

That doesn’t mean I have to hate the attacker.
I can love and defend.

That’s a tall order! I would like to be able to Love like that.
I’m not there yet, but I’m trying.

Sometimes aggressive action needs to be taken or we may face some very bad consequences.

This does not mean that we need to close ourselves off to love.
We can keep our hearts open and at the same time do what needs to be done.

Love does not need an excuse or a reason.

This is its power.

If a person has hurt you in some way,
You can acknowledge that the person had no excuse
and was totally wrong, entirely to blame,
and had total responsibility for their actions.
You may also choose to never see a person again.
Yet you can love them anyway.

Love Anyway… that is power.
That is courage.
That is strength.

To paraphrase the Middle Eastern spiritual teacher of 2000 years ago:

Anyone can love a friend or their mother,
but to love someone who has hurt you and treated you badly is powerful and Divine.

Love Anyway –
Defend, and
Love anyway.
Move out of the house –
Love anyway.
Leave the relationship –
Love anyway.
Put the criminal in jail –
Love anyway

This is not something that we can turn on like a light switch.
It is a lifelong discipline of increasing our capacity to love and forgive;
But the work is worth doing.