I do believe that still more spiritual growth lies very simply in our willingness to expand our capacity to love.
The puny fact is I did not know when I started on this path what "to love" actually meant. I remember how embarrassed I felt...and the freedom I experienced...when I admitted to another that I had always thought love only had to do with boy/girl relations. I was nearing 40 at the time. I wasn't entirely stupid...I knew we all are supposed to love our parents, our siblings, our family, our friends, but in my unformed consciousness, that love was pretty much just a pleasant feeling...till they got on the wrong side of me. Then go along to get along if it was my parents, make 'em pay if it was siblings or friends.
Back in the day, my friend Ellie, may God rest his soul, and I did our own study of love. Erich Fromm had a book popular at the time, a now classic, whose title I don't recall, that we read and analyzed and pondered over together. Joel Goldsmith's "The Gift of Love" we tore apart and put back together again, probably more than once. Yes, we did indeed take ourselves a tish too seriously, but I cherish the memories and the fact that we were both willing to be so vulnerable to each other...maybe because we didn't know any better but for sure we knew that love is the path to God which was our common goal.
Today I'm convinced my capacity to love is directly proportional to my ability...my willingness, actually...to let it be, resist not, accept, meet nasty with nice or at least a sincere smile. All of which I have done...and I can probably count how many times. Which translates to: I'm heading in the right direction, don't stop to count, keep doing.
God loves us sooo much.
Thank you.
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