love isn’t just an emotion. it is not a fantasy. it is not an unattainable mystery just outside our grasp. if you are in the midst of the search for love, you can easily attract love simply by loving.

do you want love?

then give love.

does that sound too simplistic?

it’s not.

love is not even a commitment. it’s not. or a contract. why? because in our society both can be broken and ended.

and love never fails. it doesn’t stop. it doesn’t end.

your relationship may have ended but real love does not end.

love is not a commitment; it is a covenant. do you understand that term?

it means…all that i am, all that i have, all in me that will benefit you and make you better-is yours for the length of my life.

Jewish history demonstrated covenant by having the two parties bring the best animal they had in their possession. there would be a feast to celebrate but first, the animals were prepared. as the blood flowed, the friends, business partners, alliances, or families would walked in a figure 8 (turn that 8 on it’s side and it is the symbol we have today for infinity) through the blood between the two animals. sounds gross. what it represented to them was that the blood was forever (to infinity) mingled together to the point that they could no longer distinguish what blood belonged to which animal. this was a way of saying, “we are one…there is no way to tell what was mine or yours…all i am, have and need are yours…all the you are, have and need are mine. we move together toward the same purpose. when you are in trouble-i come to your rescue. when i am in trouble-you come to mine. when i win, prosper and celebrate-you can, too. when you win, prosper and celebrate-i do as well.”

you don’t decide that in 5 minutes.

it is not a 50/50 arrangement, i give some, if you give some…and when you stop, i stop. and if you stop, i take my share and go home.

take the love between a mother and child. what will a mother endure in motherhood? i have seen many mothers endure endless heartache, pain and hatred from a child and still reach out a loving hand. tell a mother to walk away, dust her hands and finish her love for her child. will she? more times than not, no, she won’t.

our hearts break because we jump into what we fantasize love to be, commit and when it goes badly wrong -we are crushed. rightly so, our hearts were not intended to break in this way.

because in love (as a covenant), you don’t just walk away…if separation occurs, you are ripping yourself apart.

that’s a pretty good description of how it feels.

love then is the way passions (which can get out of hand on us) are tempered and restrained so that we are able to keep in focus what is truly important.

it corrects the sharpness of temper and sweetens and softens the mind, so that the heart does not suddenly conceive or carry for long vehement passion. it helps us drop our resentments and reconcile.

love has two pleasures; one negative and one positive.

negatively, it doesn’t take pleasure:

1. in hurting anyone.
2. in believing unsubstantiated rumours.
3. in wishing ill on anyone, much less cause it or laugh because it occurs.
4. in being spiteful, or delighting in someone’s faults or failings because it makes them look better.
5. in being entertained at another person’s sins, failings, grief or calamity.
Note: the height of hatred is to take pleasure in the misery of a fellow creature.

positively, it celebrates:

1. another person’s success.
2. in seeing someone do well.
3. in a person proving their sincerity, integrity and honesty.
4. in seeing innocence cleared.
5. in seeing trust established.

these are loves pleasures because in loving this way, you and i are loving as if we are loving ourselves…because that’s exactly what we ARE doing. love is a covenant that forever makes that person a part of us (think about a mother and child)…an extension of who we are.

now, that is not a fantasy…that, my friend, is the reality of what we all hope to find.

and the way we find it is not by being shallow, manipulative, and flippant with the concept of love to satisfy our selfishness…but by determining that we will live it, offer it and share it with all it’s responsibilities, restraints and stabilities…and when we do…love, really love…you won’t be able to prevent attracting real love in return! (oh, and when it’s called love but isn’t…you’ll recognize it so fast their head will spin!)

if your heart keeps getting broken, slow down. learn to love. look to Wisdom for the truest example of love. recognize the real thing and don’t accept a counterfeit…i promise, you will cry fewer tears caused by a broken heart. and you will be living a satisfied life really loving and showing compassion to the needy. you won’t have time to even think about swooning over a broken heart.

love has 2 pleasures…and they are worth developing…life skills for success. you can’t loose because love never fails!

thank you to those of you who have been sharing the love…posts. you all are awesome!

i guess, i’ll see you next time.
good night from NZ,
D