Today I am not going to talk about TLL or DSTSS. They have served me well the last 40 days and I will reflect on how this blog has changed me tomorrow. As for today, I want to look at the purity of love.
I just read a
blog entry that inspired me to stray from the books. It is from a Yoga Journal blog - HA! Yoga, just like I discussed
yesterday regarding inner peace. I am going to cut and paste the entire entry in case the link becomes broken:
As a girl, I didn’t feel beautiful. I felt chubby, unloveable, and unsure of myself. Home was not an altogether safe or supportive environment. It wasn’t until I found a connection to my body beyond the surface that something clicked for me.
I was 15 and saluting the sun during morning warm-ups at a life-saving summer theater school. Then, a few years later, I was 20 and spending my junior year abroad trekking the mountains in Nepal, taking yoga classes in Kathmandu. Back home, at 26, after more years of too much drinking, smoking, and personal turmoil, I found my way to a yoga center in New York City.
There I felt beautiful.
Still, that feeling—that beauty that comes from the inside out; that my body is beautiful because of what it can do not just how it looks—is something I can feel in my daily life, but a feeling that I can easily lose, too.
Lucky for me, I’m a mother.
Children think their mothers are gorgeous. They see us as we truly are with no concern for modern beauty standards of stilettos and extensions.
Yesterday we were driving in the car when Lucien insisted I open the mirror of the driver’s sun visor.
“Why?” I asked distractedly.
“Because I want you to see how beautiful you are.”
Wow. There’s nothing like a child’s love.
Except maybe a mother’s, or father’s, love.
This is the sort of beauty that I seek. The kind that comes from the inside out. A glow. A connection to something deeper. The sort of beauty Lucien sees in me, whether I’m in sweatpants or my best little black dress.
This is beautiful. I love the description of blind love. This is the love God has for us. I don't remember if I have mentioned this before in this blog, but after I had my first child I told my mother that I know why God allows us to have children. I said that it is the only way we can truly understand unconditional love and how he feels about us. Of course, being the Southern Baptist that she is she scoffed at me and told me how wrong I was- we are here to worship him, duh. She made me doubt my newfound revelation, but the past 5 1/2 years of being a parent has led me to believe that I am right.
Innocent, pure love. The kind a child has for his mother. The kind a mother has for her child. The kind Mary had for Jesus. The kind God has for us.
As we approach Easter, I cannot think of a more appropriate message. We all know the verse, John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son..." How strong and powerful that love is. How grateful I am to be able to experience it with my own children. The blessing of love is the best gift we have been given.
-God, Thank you for allowing me to feel pure love. Thank you for showing me how much you gave for our salvation by way of your son, Jesus. May we be eternally grateful for the sacrifice. Amen.
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