What’s love got to do with it?  EVERYTHING!

Oh can love be a pain. Let’s see, what are all the things I have heard about “love”, hummm… it heals, it sucks, it hurts, it is magical, it is freeing, it’s binding, unconditional, painful, it’s terrifying, tragic, joyous…yeah?  All true. Love is the driving force in our Universe and what every person wants. Even if you don’t think you want it, it is what you desire at the core of your soul. Love is not just “romantic” love, no, it is the essence of life, the driving force behind all things created and the basic hunger within all human beings.

While I was reading this weekend, I came across a passage from a book that puts love into a perspective that I had only thought around, never have I heard it explained like this.  If you are a seeker of love like me, your heart will leap when you read these words written by author Paulo Coelho from his book “Manuscript Found in Accra” – a beautiful book.  This post is a bit lengthly, but well worth the time….

XOXO Sandy

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And a woman who was getting on in years and had never found a husband said:
“Love has always passed me by.”

And he answered:
“In order to hear Love’s words, you must allow Love to approach.
However, when it does draw near, we fear what it might say to us, because Love is free and is not ruled by our will or by what we do.
All lovers know this but refuse to accept it.  They think they can seduce Love through submission, power, beauty, wealth, tears, and smiles.
True love, however, is the love that seduces and will never allow itself to be seduced.
Love transforms, Love heals. But sometimes it lays deadly traps and ends up destroying the person who decided to surrender himself completely.  How can the force that moves the world and keeps the stars in their places be at once so creative and so devastating?
We are used to thinking that what we give is the same as what we receive, but people who love expecting to be loved in return are wasting their time.
Love is an act of faith, not an exchange.
Contradictions are what make love grow.  Conflicts are what allow love to remain by our side.
Life is too short for us to keep important words like “I love you” locked in our hearts.
But do not always expect to hear the same words back. We love because we need to love. Otherwise, love loses all meaning and the sun ceases to shine.
A rose dreams of enjoying the company of bees, but none appears. The sun asks: “aren’t you tired of waiting?” “Yes”, answers the rose, “but if I close my petals, I will wither and die.”
And yet, even when Love does not appear, we remain open to its presence. Sometimes, when loneliness  seems about to crush everything, the only way to resist is to keep on loving.
Our great goal in life is to love. The rest is silence.
We need to love. Even when it leads us to the land where the lakes are made of tears – that secret, mysterious place, the land of tears!
Tears speak for themselves. And when we feel that we have cried all we needed to cry, they still continue to flow. And just when we believe that our life is destined to be a long walk through the Vale of Sorrows, the tears suddenly vanish.
Because we managed to keep our heart open, despite the pain.
Because we realized that the person who left us did not take the sun with them or leave darkness in their place. They simply left, and with every farewell comes a hidden hope.
It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.
Our one true choice is to plunge into the mystery of that uncontrollable force. We could say: “I’ve suffered greatly before, and I know that this won’t last either” and thus drive Love from our door. But if we did that , we would become dead to life.
Because Nature is a manifestation of the Love of God. Regardless of what we do, Nature continues to Love us. Let us, therefore, respect and understand what Nature teaches us.
We love because Love sets us free, and we say things that we once never even had the courage to whisper to ourselves.
We make a decision that we kept putting off.
We learn to say no without thinking of that word as somehow cursed.
We learn to say yes without fearing the consequences.
We forget everything we were taught about Love, because each encounter is different and brings its own agonies and ecstasies.
We sing more loudly when the person we love is far away and whisper poems when he is near, even if he doesn’t listen and pays no attention to either songs or whispers.
We don’t close our eyes to the Universe and then complain: “It’s dark.” We keep our eyes wide open, knowing that the light could lead us to do undreamed-of things. That is all part of love.
Our heart is open to love and we surrender to it without fear, because we have nothing more to lose.
Then, when we go home, we discover that someone was there waiting for us, looking for the same thing and experiencing the same anxieties and longings.
Because love is like the water that is transformed into a cloud; it’s lifted up into the heavens, where it can see everything from a distance, aware that one day it will have to return to Earth.
Because love is like the cloud that is transformed into rain; it is drawn down to the Earth, where it waters the fields.
Love is only a word, until we decide to let it possess us with all its force.
Love is only a word, until someone arrives to give it meaning.
Don’t give up. Remember, it’s always the last key on the key ring that opens the door.”