Open up to LOVE

I woke up today feeling down and unmotivated.  So I chose to spend my morning reflection on the dining table where there is more sunlight. There on the table I saw a piece of note written by my daughter to her mom.

It was very informal and that’s how I know it came from the heart without any agenda (unless she plans to ruin more of my morning by the brazen display of her spelling prowess). 

How can this girl be so expressive on love?

We reap what we sow 
Galatians 6:7

We love because He first loved us
1 John 4:19

This girl loves because she is familiar with love.

I grew up estranged to this concept. I only started telling mom I love her during my 30’s.  Much to my regret, I didn’t know she will check out of this world in 10 year’s time.  I know she loves me, all my life and I never doubted that.  Being raised by this tiger mom, it was never expressed openly and as freely as how my daughter would experience it.

I grew up shy and even ashamed of expressing this love, even from feeling it.  It felt confusing when it was geared towards me as it feels fake when I say it out.  All the more I tucked these emotions aside and became the repressed and suppressed person that I was.

My path in psychology and counselling directed me to deal with emotional issues: from sadness to depression, from anger to addictions. I would see these as problems that need elimination hurting people whom I care about.  

But in my younger days, the motivation was geared towards solving puzzles and relishing in the pride of getting to outsmart those diseases.  We know that this path leads to nothing but dead ends.  For man alone can never outsmart nature.  These naturalistic approaches peaked and plateaued; it never game me the satisfaction of truly helping people.

I agree with the apostle Paul when he said that without Love, we have nothing.

Above all, The Lord Jesus Christ, in His mercy, summarized all teachings, all laws, all meaning and purpose into one thing: Love.

The most inspiring of all, is what the apostle John the beloved said about God:  

God is Love
1 John 4:8

I am writing this to re-shift our focus back on what truly matters.  Everything going on around us forces us to be on survival mode: to be more efficient, to have more than the rest, to be stronger than the rest. Everyday we are shifted away from God’s design of love to the world’s evolutionary response.

Don’t wait for regrets, don’t wait for the final moments to let these emotions and these words come out of your mouth.  Receive it, be comfortable with it, and share it with others.  This is how our Creator designed us to be.  We are creatures of Love and apart from it, we wither away.  

Love one another as I have loved you
John 13:34

What is your story of love?