How do you love?
Are you full of passion, sparks flying, endless soaring on cloud nine?
Are you twitter-patted and silly, hearing violins and seeing rainbows soaring?
Are you solid and enduring, captivated once and loving forever?
How do you show love?
Are you a giver of gifts? Do you exude affection? Are you a servant?
Are your words a expression of love? Are your time and presence gifts in themselves?
How do you receive love?
Do you crave a warm touch? Do you relish time spent with your beloved? Do you require affirmation to know you are loved? Do gifts provide that assurance? Do acts of service convince you?
Know thyself, the Oracle proclaimed. If you cannot know yourself in this most essential of needs, your need to show and receive love, you cannot hope to progress further into knowledge of yourself.
In our love, we most reflect God. In loving others, we are a vessel of God to them. In opening our hearts to receive love, we encounter our Lord in others. Without love, we are a cacophony of sound, tales "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing" (Macbeth).
We are told there is so much to know, to unfold, to discover in the world. There are adventures to be had, books to read, subjects to study, places to go, beauty to see. And yet, the most profound depths are in fact within ourselves. Here in the silence is the place designated for us to encounter our Maker. In this stillness, we are meant to find Him - "Be still and now that I am God" (Psalm 46).
We often forget that we are ourselves an untapped wealth waiting to be uncovered. I am a mystery even to myself. It takes a lifetime to know fully who I am, and yet I cannot know what I am meant to be without this process of self-discovery and increasing awareness.
Because I am all that I have to work with. And yes, progress can always be made, and perfection can be coaxed from the unwieldy. But if we cannot make that effort to discover who we are, then we have no starting point from which to understand the world.
Know thyself. Be true to yourself. Uncover Truth within yourself. For He who is Truth has imprinted Himself within your heart, leaving hints as to His being. He calls continuously, and in knowing the truth of you, you discover more of Him.
And He is love.
