QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"Let us not be satisfied with just giving money. Money is not
enough, money can be got, but they need your hearts to love
them. So, spread love everywhere you go: first of all in your
home. Give love to your children, to your wife or husband, to a
next-door neighbour."
--Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997) Roman Catholic nun
PERSONAL REFLECTIONS
Love does not come from without. True love is born, grows, and develops from within. It blossoms forth unconditionally and unselfishly. The key is not to search for love without, but to find it within. Not to give as something bought and then handed to another as a token. Instead make it something that you have nurtured, understood, cherished, and given as the greatest gift of all.
Start with loving ourselves. For if we cannot love ourselves, how can we love others. Loving ourselves does not mean condoning our weaknesses, our faults, our frailties, but it does mean forgiving those weaknesses, faults and frailties. In truly loving ourselves--the inner spirit that is the well spring of all our outward actions--we come to understand the giving of love. When we have done that, we can sprout the seed and send the flowers of loving actions to our loved ones, our friends, the strangers we meet, all of God's creatures. It is a force whose power is limitless. True love born from within can smooth the roughest road. It can provide comfort and joy. It can fill the void of emptiness felt by so many. It is simple. It is pure. It is love. Give love not only today. Give love not only to some. Give love always to all.
Happy Valentine's Day!
Blessings and Love,
Allen Schmeltz
Copyright © 1999 Allen F. Schmeltz. All rights reserved.
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