The ‘quest to love’ is beginning to bloom as we draw nearer to our garden destination. As you recall, the year began with the need for a total restoration of heart (Apokatastasis). It started with a simple request, “I want to know what love is.” The answer came in a way I could never have imagined; calling my mom everyday to tell her ‘I love you’! From that point there were crossings from ‘sympathy to empathy,’ ‘uncertainty to certainty’ and ‘behavior modification to character transformation.’ We walked away from the old (selfishness) and stepped into the new (selflessness). These changes were all part of the chrysalis which allowed us to become spiritual butterflies and the lovers God intended.
Thoughts of grace and good favor have become all-consuming. Each day we awaken to fulfill our mission of loving as God loves, and in the process, we learn to genuinely love God, others, and ourselves. We respond to the call to rescue the wounded from the Wasteland and function as His hands and feet to free those held in captivity. Like good soldiers, we march forward no longer afraid of the darkness as we are guided by the light. We embrace the void knowing we are found by love.
That is the power of love. It lights the way and discovers us before we discover it. It takes the initiative to seek and save what was lost. I know from personal experience that it rescued me and set me to lie in fields by cool waters. And in return it called and empowered me to express love into others’ lives. Do not let anyone or anything convince you otherwise. Love is the greatest force in life. It is the essence of joy and peace and propels us ever forward to our Garden home.
If you have not already, I urge you to begin your quest to love today. And you too will discover what it means to be found by love!
“Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place!”
-Zora Neal Hurston-
Dario L. Perla