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Words of Wisdom

Why We Shouldn’t Love Less Than One Hundred Percent!

“There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends. I have no notion of loving people by halves.” — Jane

What People Are Saying

I have often heard people say that when we love, we should avoid giving the relationship one hundred percent of our hearts, that we should always try to reserve a certain percentage for ourselves.

Somehow, this is based on the idea that we can love other people better if we learn to love ourselves first. But is the connection to this idea true? Can we only love ourselves by holding back a certain percentage of our love?

Love is Like a Pizza?

This leads me to the thought that love is something that’s like a pizza pie. Once we give away half, all that we retain is the other half. So better to not give everything away then?

What Love Is

I think love is different. Love is not diminished like that. I believe that we can love ourselves a hundred percent and also love other people without ever lessening that love!

Our problem is not in dividing our love. Our problem is not knowing how to love one hundred percent!

Whenever we fail to give attention to our needs, we are not loving ourselves in full. Whenever we set aside our need for growth, we love ourselves less than we should.

In the same way, whenever we fail to recognize the need of our family or friends, we fail to give them the kind of love they need. We are not giving them a hundred percent of our love.

Love and Abundance

Love is not a thing that ought to be scarce. Love is abundance and fullness! Love is something that should multiply the more that we give it away.

Our problem is not in trying to save a portion of love. Our problem is being able to keep up to the full measure of what love really is!

Whenever we think that love can be given in halves, we lose the true meaning of it, we lose its very essence. For how could we love only with half of our hearts? Or how could we love only with half of our thoughts?

Love and Faithfulness

When we commit to someone, we do not promise to remain faithful for only half of the time. We promise faithfulness one hundred percent of the time! And if we ever forget that promise for even a single hour of betrayal, can we truly say that we have not forgotten love then?

We can never love with only half of our hearts. This is true whether we speak about loving ourselves or loving other people.

Love would always demand one hundred percent because it would always give its all. Love is faithful, love is true, and that shouldn’t only be true half of the time.

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Words of Wisdom

A Certain Lightness

There’s a certain relief in emptying oneself, even of one’s dreams. There’s a certain lightness. A certain hope. A new beginning filled with wondrous possibilities. Because one has let go, one is now free. Because one is empty, one can now receive in full. New things abound. The heart is young again. New adventures and new doors open wide to make way for new happiness.

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Words of Wisdom

The Purpose of Anger

I sometimes wonder why God does not just take away the emotion of anger from those who want to live holy lives. Being someone who has a certain temper, there were certainly times I wished I could just have the calmness and the serenity of saints who always seem to be gentle and patient to all. I’ve realized however, that anger still has its usefulness in this life. It is anger that tells us something is wrong. It is anger that signifies how atrocious evil really is. Without anger, we may just as easily tolerate monstrous deeds done before our eyes. Anger is not what’s wrong. It is holding on to anger when it is no longer needed. It is allowing anger to control us, using it as an excuse to do things we’d only regret later on.

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Words of Wisdom

The Grace Of Hope

there are rays of hope even in our darkest hours 2012

Hopelessness is something we can never truly understand until we have experienced it ourselves. From a distance, it is very easy to judge the hopelessness of other people. Maybe it’s because we can see some things they fail to see. Maybe it’s because we believe we have faith to weather any storm.

We will only realize the true darkness of hopelessness once we encounter in ourselves. It’s like a thick shroud blocking everything from our view, suffocating us, taking away everything we hold dear. It’s like a potion that makes us forget all the good things we ever had, all the blessings we have ever received from heaven. When we arrive at that place, we can finally relate to how the Israelites felt while trapped before the Red Sea. All the miracles they have witnessed seem to have faded from their memory, replaced by a fear and a desperation that stems from not being able to see any way out.

Without God’s grace, how can we ever overcome despair? May this lesson give us humility of heart, acknowledging our own frailty, and making us avail of every God-given opportunity to cling to Him in faith. We may not be able to get out of the darkness by ourselves, but may we never turn down God’s saving power when He calls unto us and sends us hope.

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Words of Wisdom

Succeeding In Our Failures

“God does not require that we be successful only that we be faithful.”- Mother Teresa

It is not success that truly defines a person’s character; it is the way that a person handles defeat. It is so easy to be victorious. Everyone admires you. All your friends congratulate you. You feel you have accomplished something and that you have a legacy to leave behind.

But what about times of failure? What about days when you feel like you have labored much but you have achieved nothing? It is days like these that test a person’s strength. It is days like these that will reveal who you really are.

We may not understand why God has allowed such things to happen to people, especially the good ones. But we must continue trusting that He has a reason for allowing us to suffer defeat. Let us allow Him then to carry us through our darkest days. Even when everything seems to be bitter and broken. Even when we feel so angry at the injustice of it all. God has His reasons. God’s justice is higher than our own, and His mercy is deeper than we could ever understand.

“You don’t know what I am doing now, but you will understand later.” – John 13:7, WEBBE