LOVE

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/28/my-faith-what-people-talk-about-before-they-die/?hpt=hp_c1

I found this article poignant and interesting. Why is it so difficult for humans to love freely, compassionately, and unconditionally? Why is it so challenging to love ourselves? Why do we often wait until the bitter sweet end to confess short comings, to attempt to make amends, to wish we had lived and expressed ourselves differently? Love is something we humans struggle to share, to understand, to define, and to manifest. Perhaps this is why it is such a challenge for us to truly know God. Perhaps this is why falling in love is such a powerful indescribable experience. Maybe falling in love brings us closer to God.

I don't know much about religion. I know little of all the theology and rhetoric enveloping Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, etc, but I do know, and I have always known, God. God, which I can only define as a universal benevolent omnipresent energy, lives in my heart and has filled me with unseen unconditional love more times than many humans. I know that this so called invisible presence has reached out to me in kindness and compassion on many occasions. I know that over my life I have wrestled with the desire to connect in love with friends and family, but that I have never wanted for the love of, or for a connection with, God. When I call to God he comes straight away bearing tenderness, strength, and guidance, but above all else he arrives with warmth and love.  With God I can be myself.  I don't have to worry if something I say or do is going to push another away.  With God I can be imperfect.  Sadly, most often I can't do this with humanity.

So I have come to know God not through words spoken or through sacred scripture, but through my heart. I have come to understand God as a love larger than we as a race of people are capable of fully comprehending. I have come to understand, rudimentarily, that God is love and it is through this understanding that I awkwardly move to navigate my life. I hope when I vacate my body and my life on this Earth, that I feel at peace with the depth to which I have loved.

"The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread". ~Mother Teresa

"Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. Love is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the Truth. Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails." Corinthians 13:4

"So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love." Corinthians 13:13