As I Have Loved You.

I am a craver of love.  So thoroughly it structures every aspect of my life; it always has.  The heart I was endowed beats off of affection.  I ache for love, and hunger to give it.  My heart has always seemed to be disarranged in the positioning of my life, and I sought endlessly to locate from where it originated.  Recently I was blessed with the opportunity to learn from which it came.  A precious man, two generations prior to my own, has a pounding muscle fixed in his middle, from which mine is arranged after.  It is an interesting thing to note that the things you inherit from those that are dear, sustain even if they are withdrawn from your side.  My heart can be used as an illustration of such.  Although the one who transferred my most favored gift did not linger beside me, my heart, being patterned after his own, imitated his workings.  Never did it need to be trained or guided to love in such a manner, it simply had an immediate evolvement.  It is an incredible phenomenon.  Throughout life my heart was met with fierce opposition, whose objectives desired to restructure its components and erase its origins.  However, it remained constant to its inborn abilities and desires, because the pieces of the giver were embedded within. 

What is it about love that has the world captivated?  Love appears in all dimensions of life.  It exists as such because it is what each of us desirously yearns for.  We thirst for the remedial abilities it holds.  Love is miraculous.  It can heal even the most broken of souls.  The shattered heart, even one that hold cavernous wounds, can find rehabilitation under its care.  The tormented mind finds refuge.  The fearful spirit discovers sanctuary.   Love is a motivator.   When fervently given, it inspires the recipient in an electrifying manner.  This occurs because the tender affection extends to our very core.  It exhilarates the heart and awakens the recognitions of who we are, and what we are destined to become.  We begin to be conscious of our incredible value, and that our individualized contributions during this earthly dispensation are of remarkable worth.  We recognize our significance in fulfilling the plan of our Father.  I know this to be fact, for my own heart has undergone transformation from being loved as such. 

  When I met Mathew, I was a weak soul.  Wandering through life, I held a defective conviction that love was merely an envisioned concept, one that I had immaturely created within my most wildest of imaginations.  I recall longing for it to be truth, but found the realities of life to only show a corrupted and cruel version of the love I once had confidence in.  Although I never stopped giving love the way I believed it should exist, I decided I was inadequate to receive it in the same fashion.  In order to shield my troubled heart, I created barriers around my most tender center, hoping that these blockades would create an obstacle so strong, that it would deter anyone from striving to enter.  Love was a desperate desire, but a hopeless objective.  The day I met the man, whom I now loving refer to as my husband, my guarded heart was pierced by his goodness. He was kind.  He was gentle.  A fragment of hope seemed to embed itself deep inside of me.  As our lives continued to connect, his love enveloped me.  Although all I seemed to offer was a petrified perspective of love, and a burdensome load of past life baggage, he adored me.  As I placed my trembling heart within his sturdy hands, he provided it with the most tender of affections.  All at once the love I had convinced myself was merely an figment of personal creation, became a beautiful reality.  I found that my walls rapidly plummeted at his feet.  Our path was not simple.  We encountered complications along the way as his love worked to repair what had been damaged, but he never ceased, only patiently abided all.  He loved me in an all-encompassing manner.  This profound love, jolted my heart to reality.  I found confidence in myself.  I felt important.  I realized my strengths, and received the courage to magnify them.  I worked to gain new abilities, and under his protection felt comfort in my failings, knowing that I could try again.  But most of all, His love helped me to recall who I was.  Who I am.  A daughter of God.  He respected me, admired me, and loved me as such.  Under his care I have received wings to fly, and he only strives to lift me higher, that I might soar. 

The reason love is so powerful, so influential, is because it calls our hearts to the remembrance of our Heavenly Father.  Earthly love cannot even begin to describe the type of tenderness He gave to us every moment we were in His presence.  It is so deficient, that it can hardly be compared to the eternal devotions in which we once delighted.  The arrangements of our soul are weaved with this love.  When another loves us with earnest sincerity, our hearts cling to the similarities we feel.  Pieces of our divinity remember it.  They remember Him.  We want so intensely to be consumed with His affections again, that any recollection of it inspires our spirits in advancing towards perfection, that we may return home to His outstretched arms.  Producing and supplying this type of love to those that surround us on this mortal journey is our responsibility.  It is our duty.  We should never examine whether someone is worthy of our love before extending it.  Christ is our absolute exemplar in this.  While on earth He loved all, even those that were shunned by others because of their immoral lifestyles or afflicted circumstances.  He did not pick and choose whom He would care for.  This is because He recognized every single individual for who they were, God’s child.  His understanding of this was so complete, that worldly imperfections and sins could never alter his perceptions.  We should strive to parallel our love with the love of our Savior’s, never ceasing.  His flawless exemplification of true love should be our objective.  We should give all efforts into acquiring the abilities needed to love others as such.  Loving in the same manner as our Savior is not a suggestion, it is an expectation.  We learn of our requirements through the Lord’s own words as He spoke:

A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.  (John 13:34)

To emulate our Savior, we must learn how to love from within the deepest chambers of our hearts.  When we do so we will find the ability to love intensely, seeking to provide our affections, attentions, and devotions to those we are focused upon.  The words that exit our mouths should be occupied with compassion, motivations, and sincerities.  They should seek to uplift and enliven those we cherish.  However, it is most imperative that our words correspond with our actions.  No matter how exquisitely poetic our expressions of adoration may be, if they lack the deeds that manifest the love that lives in our hearts, they are nothing but hollow phrases that have been twisted in a beautiful fashion.  Allow love to be much more than a noun.  Demand it to be a verb, one that compels us into activity.  We must take the time that is required to learn the interworking of a heart.  We need to know how another aches to be loved, and work to fulfill that for them.  As humans we crave tangible affections.  At times it can be difficult to detect the love of our Father and Savior, because it is not manifested in a physically discernable way.  The Lord needs us to be His vessels in which to carry His love to others in a palpable manner.  He depends on us to help convey his affections for His children.  As we stand worthy of this opportunity, He will send us personalized inspirations for who we should reach for.  These motivations should never be dismissed, but should be energetically performed.  We will find that as we dispense this depth of affection and tenderness, our Heavenly Father and Savior’s love will pour down upon us.  Their closeness will be so incredibly distinct we will feel them stand by our sides.  The intrinsic love that survives in our hearts will be released and we will feel closer than ever before to our heavenly home. 

Satan will work tenaciously to alter our definition of love.  He is aware of its power and he detests its capabilities and the potential we acquire in utilizing it.  We must not permit him to do so.  Worldly love that we encounter may be cruel.  It may produce wounds and seek to cripple our hearts.  Instead of filling our souls, it may leave us aching.  However, we must remember that we did not learn to love from the world.  We were introduced to it, experienced it, and have evoked memories of it because we were taught by Him.  We must protect our understanding of love, and never allow our cores to become hardened.  We must have faith in the truthfulness of love, and continue to provide it to those that surround us, regardless of the experiences that have sought to demolish our convictions.  Just as my tender heart remembered the makings of its temporal originator, and sought to exist as such, despite the efforts to transform its arrangement, our spirits remember His affections, and are in constant yearning to supply and encounter love that is synonymous with His.  Overflow your life with love.  So fully that it spills from every word and every action that you give.  Be the instrument for our Father and Savior, the one that provides tangible proof of Their existence and continuation of love.  Love in such a manner that it stimulates hearts to the remembrance of the love They had, have, and will give when we return home again.  Love as They have loved you.