Got love?

6th July 2011   ·   0 Comments

By Edmund W. Lewis, Editor
The Louisiana Weekly

“I have never met a person whose greatest need was anything other than real, unconditional love. You can find it in a simple act of kindness toward someone who needs help. There is no mistaking love. You feel it in your heart. It is the common fiber of life, the flame of that heats our soul, energizes our spirit and supplies passion to our lives. It is our connection to God and to each other.”
— Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

“The thought manifests as the word. The word manifests as the deed. The deed develops into habit. And the habit hardens into character. So watch the thought and its ways with care. And let it spring from love, born out of concern for all beings.”
— Buddha

“Love is but the discovery of ourselves in others, and the delight in the recognition.”
— Alexander Smith

“What most people need to learn in life is how to love people and use things instead of using people and loving things.”
– Source unknown

If it’s true that the best way to judge a tree is by the fruit it bears, perhaps the best way for us to assess who we are as individuals is to examine our relationships with others.

Do you treat others with love, compassion and respect? Do you look out for your neighbors, classmates and colleagues and treat them the way you would like to be treated? When you are exhausted or busy, do you still summon the energy and compassion to genuine concern for others? Do you listen with loving, patient ears to your friends and loved ones?

Far too often, we find a myriad of excuses to not do the right thing. But the bottom line is that despite the best of intentions we often fall short of being the kind of people we want to be.

In order to become better, loving people, we need to closely examine ourselves and be very honest about what it means to live lives that are filled with love.

Do you have love? Do you show that love daily? Do you love your sisters and brothers the same way you love yourself? Do others think of you as a loving person?

People with love in their hearts don’t spend all their time thinking about what others can do for them even though it never enters their minds that perhaps there is something they can do for others. People with love do what they can for others without being asked and expect nothing in return.

People with love don’t limit themselves to only showing love to their children or members of their immediate families. They don’t go around thanking God for enabling them to provide their children with a great education while refusing to do everything in their power to help less fortunate children whose educational opportunities are severely limited. No do they feel less concern and compassion for the children and families of others.

People with love don’t only show concern for those who share their spiritual or political beliefs or those who come from similar socioeconomic backgrounds. They remember that all of the Creator’s children are precious in His sight.

People with love don’t feel the need to routinely think of themselves as better than others. Self-esteem and self-worth come from knowing, appreciating and loving one’s self, not placing a lower value on others.

People who have love in their lives don’t have a need to constantly lash out at others or relentlessly seek to make others unhappy because they are miserable. Nor do they wish for or celebrate the misfortune of others. In fact, people who love themselves are genuinely happy about the success or good fortune that comes into the lives of others.

It is neither healthy nor productive for any human being to allow his or her life to be ruled by jealousy, anger or bitterness. No matter how justified we believe we are in feeling these things, these are all emotions that are toxic to the human spirit and alienate us from the Creator.

People with love in their lives can’t spend significant time in houses of worship and not be transformed by the Creator’s love. They don’t act one way during worship services and entirely another way the rest of the time. They don’t judge others by what they wear, drive or own. Nor do they take on war-mongering spirits or embrace deception, treachery, contentiousness in their dealings with others.

People with love aren’t consumed by an endless pursuit of expensive clothing, jewelry, cars and homes. All of these things are shabby substitutes for love and none of them can outshine or outlast love.

People with love in their lives can’t walk or drive by homeless sisters and brothers and feel absolutely nothing. There, but for the grace of God, go all of us.

While we may be overwhelmed by the immensity of the challenge facing homeless people and may not know the best way to help them, those with love in their lives should be moved to do something, whether it’s writing a column, raising others’ awareness of the problem, providing meals for the homeless or challenging elected officials to do more to help these poor souls.

Love moves us to find a way to right the many wrongs and injustices we see in the world.

Actions speak louder than words and the actions we employ speak volumes about who we are and what is important to us.

While we can fool ourselves and others with craftily manufactured images of ourselves, we can’t fool the Creator.

People with love don’t feel a compulsion to tell everyone about the good deeds they’ve done; they let their good works speak for themselves.

As a journalist, one of the things I’ve found to be amazing is the difference between the way some celebrities act when the cameras are rolling and the way they treat others when the press is nowhere to be found. “Keeping up appearances” for the sake of good press may help “stars” to maintain their popularity with clueless fans and might lead to more endorsement deals, better CD sales and higher box office proceeds, but will do very little to please the ancestors or help us to find favor with the Creator.

At the end of the day, each of us has to deal with the way we choose to live our lives and treat others.

Many of us spend countless hours professing our love for the Creator but do very little to help those around us, unaware of how ridiculous and ironic it is for anyone to claim to love a Divine Being he or she cannot see while showing very little in the way of love to those he or she sees daily.

Nothing drives that point home better than the Christian adage that says  “whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto me.”

It is love that enables and empowers us to be the best we can be in every aspect of our lives. With it, we can literally accomplish anything. Without it, we are woefully lost and blowing in the wind.

Let love rule.

This article originally published in the July 4, 2011 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.