Life and Love

 

It is the 14^th of February and as we all know, it is Valentine’s day. It is believed to be a holiday in remembrance of Saint Valentine, celebrated by sending cards or similar tokens of love. Well, I have read and heard several stories but that is not what this blog is all about. However, I will like to maximize the period, to explain how I think life and love are related.

We all love to love and feel loved. I am sure that if we ask fifty people what they think love is or, to give their own definition of love, based on their own belief and experience, some would describe it as a feeling, emotion and so on, which are not wrong. Actually I believe that love is a sacrifice. Yes, sacrifice. Every of our definition of love still boils down to sacrificing something, letting go and all.

In our everyday life, we express acts of love, not only to our family members and loved ones, but even to those we refer to as strangers. And, as we do these things we tend to let go of some of our values, let down our guards and sometimes, give out the things that seem so precious to us. To forgive someone who hurt you badly is an act of love and it is a sacrifice. Not choosing to react to everyone’s act of rudeness is an act of love but we sometimes term it as an act of being mature and not love. Well, it is still love.

Relating life and love, we have to understand that we cannot give what we do not have so, we have to love ourselves.  The Bible already said it all by asking us to love others the way we love ourselves. To love yourself is not an act of being selfish but, an act of respecting and honoring yourself, believing in yourself and being interested in your growth and everything that concerns you. How serious do you take yourself? How interested are you in your growth? How do you honor and respect your being and existence? As I stated earlier, you cannot give what you do not have, you cannot love people if you do not love yourself adequately. To respect and honour people you have to first of all do so to yourself. You must have a habit of taking pride in your abilities, dreams and ideas for you to be able to appreciate others’.

Loving yourself entails you wanting to make the right decisions, staying healthy and productive and engaging in a positive lifestyle, which includes having a positive mind-set and being optimistic. Trust me, if you love yourself, you would not believe that you are a failure no matter how hard it seems and, you would always strive for excellence. If you can relate so well with yourself, you would be able to love others adequately. You cannot others beyond how you love yourself and, the way you love yourself determines how others love you back.

In order to build a good spiritual work, it must come from a place of love. The same way we find it easy to “vibe” with those we love, is the same way we would find it easier to relate with God when we love him. Our acts of love like reading the word, praying and so on to know him more and hear from him, would be easily coordinated and organic. If we truly love God, we would find it easily to listen to his instructions and also talk about him. God made the very first big sacrifice of giving us his son. His only son! Trust me, we cannot adequately pay him back for this but, we can try our best to love him back and live our lives for him.

In relation to our social and support systems, love cannot be excluded. In order to grow in life and achieve our goals, a good support system is required. The influence of our family and friends, colleagues and so on cannot be over-emphasized. We need people who can sacrifice for us and we should also be able to sacrifice our precious belongings, not only material things but, our time and affection. We need people who we can share our burdens with. We need people who can believe in us and our capacity achieve our goals. Nobody is an “island”. At some point in our lives, we would need the help of people and we would also have to render help to people. So, to adequately support people and support others, love has to be involved.

To deliver value, love is involved. For you to be able to stand up for what is right, for you to decide to be a solution to your generation then, an unconditional form of love is involved. Making impact in the society, involves diverse forms of criticism and several down-times but, choosing to stand notwithstanding, is what makes our goals achievable. Making impact and delivering value would entail you going extra-miles and leaving your comfort zone. If your attempt is not from a place of love then you will find it hard to stand and run with your vision effectively. If your love is only a function of the good times or when there are no tribulations then it should be checked.

As we go about our daily activities with the appropriate meaning and perspective to love, we would see that life becomes more interesting and worth living. We would no longer have to bother ourselves about unnecessary things, find it easier to let go of people’s wrongs, which would free us from constant heaviness and unhappiness.

Love is indeed a miracle, it is a sacrifice. What is life without love? Start to love!