The words to the chorus of “Where Is Love?” from the musical Oliver kept playing in my head this week:
Where is love?
Does it fall from skies above?
Is it underneath the willow tree
That I’ve been dreaming of?
Oliver’s search for love speaks to our hearts because we all know that yearning to find the love that is meant for only us. We seek that special love that will speak to our hearts and fill us with its beauty. We look for that love that will make us feel special.
If you are like me, you have spent much of your life searching in all the wrong places. You sought that love in the arms of another, and you thought you had found it in those heady “falling-in-love” days, weeks, and months of a new relationship. We all know and remember those times when everything in our lives shone with a special glow as we looked out at the world through our “I’m in love” lenses. Not only did life seem more beautiful; we felt beautiful and special, and we basked in that feeling. In fact, we glowed.
But that feeling didn’t last. Our relationships settled into a routine of being together; the demands of life interceded. It wasn’t long before that beautiful, special feeling dissipated, and an inner emptiness returned. We found ourselves still looking for that which would make us feel whole, enough, worthy.
Part of that search was answered for me in my work to learn to love and accept myself. How could anyone else make me feel the worth and acceptance that I couldn’t embrace for myself? I was looking for someone to fill my own inner void, and I didn’t realize that I was the only one who could do that. Self-love and self-acceptance were important milestones on my journey, and at that point, I didn’t realize that my seeking would take me further and deeper to find love beyond anything I had experienced in my life.
As I felt stronger within myself, I sought answers to my questions about life, and in that seeking, I found love that is truly beyond measure, love that words cannot truly capture. I realized that I had been seeking outside of me for love that would make me feel special and worthy. The love I was seeking was within me all along; I just didn’t know it was there. This love is God’s Love; it is what I am, and it is what you are. We are all expressions of God’s infinite, unconditional Love. When I get still and go within, I open into absolute love. It is always there, always waiting for me to choose to return. This love doesn’t impose itself on me; it doesn’t demand my attention. This love waits for me to return, to come home.
The love that we have been seeking isn’t to be found outside of us. It is within us; it is what we are — our inner essence — and this love connects us all as one family in spirit. We are love. The special love that we wanted to speak to our hearts and fill us with its beauty is within us. The love that is meant for us and that makes us feel special is within us. It is God’s love for us, and it is here for us always.
I invite you to get still and to allow yourself to open within. Explore what you find there. Sit quietly in that stillness and feel yourself melt into the love that you are. The love that you are is the love that I am; it is the love that we all are. We are truly brothers and sisters in spirit. To all of you, I send great love today. Namaste.
