Bottomless Love

Life is not a fairytale and love is not something you just get for free. We often underestimate all the facets that go along with love. Our society and culture teaches us love as the depiction of two lovers on the big screen doing whatever they want and never losing each other. We see men cheating on their wives and women desiring the affection and affirmation of another man. The root of their marriage is not that of love, but one of convenience. So how does one get to the root of love then?


To love another, one must first begin to have respect for themselves and believe wholeheartedly that it is a commitment and not just a season. Love does not come in seasons. It does not enter your life for you to give up yourself for another only to move on to the next person when the time seems right for you. Surely we will have friends come in our lives to love for the time they are with us, but this is not true love that is in marriages. We are often brought to the affection of someone else by the attraction of our absent affirmation. To fill a void in our lives by just having someone there for you to "love" is a recipe for disaster. If you are to enter a relationship, enter it for the long run and build it around two centerpieces: God and love.


For something good to last, you give it your best. But for something great to last, you never give up. If you are struggling in your marriage or relationship, work harder at it. Understand that love has no end. It does not reach a point where you max out. Rather, love grows to the point where you see no end. If the road seems far, keep steady in your walk, for the reward is magnificent. Teach yourself good habits and work together as one. If the two of you have a strong love for each other, then it is better than one. Learn to communicate and talk things out. Give up your pride for it will kill not only your love, but your heart as well.


You will hear people say there is no such thing as true love. Others will say that love is stupid and all it did was hurt them. One cannot discount their feelings for only God knows the hurt that they have gone through. We must accept them and help them. Well, how do we do this? We do it with love. Amazing how one can be restored by the one thing they felt destroyed them. The power of love is glorious and its fruits are good for the soul. It requires hard work and patience. Love will not come easy. One must treat it as their career and put in the time to ensure that there is no inadequacies. One of the important things to remember is to run after the right type of love.


There are two types of love. The first is a lusting love. You give up your body, mind and heart for physical, emotional and even mental satisfaction. This often comes from different people and is not limited to one person. You tell this other person you love them and will do whatever it is that they want. You typically seek to make yourself feel good by doing whatever it is that the other person wants you to do. You will give up your morals, ethics and purity for a temporary high. Soon after your high, you will be left all alone with the feelings of worthlessness, loneliness and emptiness settling in deep in your heart. This is one type of love.


Or, there is the flip side: pure love. With this you respect who you are and keep your body, mind and heart for yourself. You do not need to be satisfied by the physical, emotional or mental practices of another. You dedicate your life to be with another through the thick and thin. You respect who they are and in turn expect to be respected as well. The satisfaction you get is a life long journey of laughs, tears and wrinkly skin. You seek to grow old and to never be away from them. You seek only one to fulfill this. You hold your morals high and do not cross any lines when it comes to purity. Love is not a physical pleasure, but one that resonates deep within the heart. You do not get high for a temporary time. Your love will get stronger with time. Your heart will be filled and the feelings of worthlessness, loneliness and emptiness will want to attack you, but your foundation will be solid enough to resist all temptations. This is true love.


Love will not fail you, it will find you. Seek it.


That is Truth

Uncontrollable Thankfulness

Something we were all taught at a very young age was to say "Thank you" when someone did something for us or to be proper when showing our gratitude. As we got older, the meaning of thankfulness has seemed to disappear and is more of responsibility rather than showing honor and respect. It's as if it's a burden for us to be thankful these days. We struggle to show our appreciation for anything and everything. We are so down in our lives that we don't have thankfulness because if we can't be happy, than others cannot be happy either.


There are two kinds of thankfulness: The first is the kind we show onto others. This comes in the form of words, actions or unspoken body language. These are the outward expressions we were taught from a young age and have progressed throughout our livelihood. As we have gotten older, this kind of thankfulness has changed and no longer is the customary response it was when we were younger. This leads to the second kind of thankfulness. This comes from within and is an internal form of expression.


Something even harder to learn is to be truly thankful from within. It is very easy to tell someone thank you for what they have done, but it is extremely to truly be thankful in your heart. The fact of the matter is you cannot lie to yourself. It is easy to lie onto others and completely deceive them. The reality is that you cannot trick your heart into truly being thankful for all that your life is. Yes, it may not be a perfect life, but you are living, breathing and able to inflict change in this world. Your life can completely suck to you, but may have meaning to someone else. It is understandable that to be thankful for a life that is full of struggles and hardship may nearly be impossible, but for just a second remove yourself from where you are in life and look at others. There will always be someone who is going through something worse and is more thankful then you.


That is hard to swallow and may even feel like a shot in the gut, but it is a reality check that we all need to see. How can we not be thankful for all that we have and are doing when others in the world are going through way worse situations, yet they are so thankful. If we cannot be thankful for the blessed lives we have now, then we will never be thankful ever no matter what the circumstances are. We can be living lavish lifestyles with endless amounts of money, but will never be truly thankful because we will want more. Our inability to be thankful stems directly from within and is the result of the greed we desire endlessly. This adversely affects our ability to be thankful outwardly. We struggle to be thankful to others because we do not know how to be thankful ourselves.


To be thankful, one has to fully release their own desires and see their life in its naturalness. The natural beauty that lies within breathing, seeing, hearing, touching and moving is incredible. To do just one of those is such an amazing gift. How can you not be thankful for a lifelong ability to do at least one of those. You were created by design by Him, and it is our purpose to be thankful always. It's not healthy to not be thankful. It leads to many negative things and can truly hurt you terribly. Make it a habit to see the best in the worst. Be a positive person even when you are positive that everything is negative. Grow in the life you have been given and follow the narrow road to happiness. 


Live to be thankful and be thankful to be living.