Thoughts on Love

Dear Readers,
Well it's Monday and I imagine you are back at work, of one sort or another. I hope that your hands, mind and heart are all satisfied with your occupation.
What do you think of love?
I find that I learn more about it every week. I am blessed to have a lot of people to love, both family and friends, who teach me how to love more completely as the days, weeks and years continue.
Isaiah prophesied that the wolf would one day lie down with the lamb and that the leopard would lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together.....for the earth would be full of the knowledge of the Lord.
What is the knowledge of the Lord?
This is what I believe. God has given us time and relationships. The very nature of our being requires relationships; that is how we were conceived, nurtured in a womb and born. Without others we would not survive infancy or childhood.
Hopefully, these relationships were good enough for us to learn about the knowledge of the Lord which I interpret as holy love, true love, unconditional love, love that is felt, love that lasts forever.
Sadly, there are 80 million orpans in the world that do not have permanant families. There are also people who have families, but the dynamics in the family are far from loving. We have not yet reached the place where the earth is full of the knowledge of the Lord.
What can we do? We can take steps daily toward this vision of an earth filled with unconditional, true, committed, unending love in the circle of our own relationships. Plus we can expand our circle, bit by bit, until the whole world knows this kind of love.
One of the steps I have discovered for myself is to resolve to stop critcizing people. I am growing in my resolve and I will never be perfect at this in my life on earth, but I can do my best. I have taken good strides in reducing the criticism I give to my husband and I cannot believe the difference in our marriage! I am embarrassed to admit to myself how often I did criticize him and now I can see the damage that I was doing, all "for his own good" I thought.
The change in him is remarkable! He is doing sweet little favors for me often. He smiles at me and speaks kind words more readily. He picks up the cat more often to pet her and talk to her. He is cheerier in the morning and less discouraged when other people are unkind.
We all need relationships that are sanctuaries; we need safety and encouragement. We need to feel loved and accepted, even appreciated for who we really are, deep inside. We start by accepting God's love. God teaches us how to love in return. Then we learn to forgive and accept ourselves, and when we do that we are able to forgive and accept others. It all boils down to the two commandments that Christ taught us: love God and love one another as we love ourselves.
Love has ingredients: attraction, admiration and devotion. Devotion is the bottom line, it will keep us together through thick and thin. Love begins with attraction and admiration, which leads us toward devotion. But when attraction and admiration fade, devotion will help us to revive them over time.
The world is constantly evolving. We can all work together to fill the world with the knowledge of the Lord so that everyone can use the time given to them for the ultimate satisfaction which can only be found in devoted love. As this change occurs, perhaps nature itself will evolve to the point that the wolf and the lamb will lie down together!