Love: The Missing Ingredient In Our World Today

The longer I live, the more I see the traumatic effects of the lack of love in a life, in a family, or in a society. How can we stop the copious bleeding in the heart of a boy torn apart by the estranged marriage of his parents, the harrowing pain of a woman whose husband abandoned for a mistress, the devastation of war orchestrated by unhealthy rivalries, the cruelty of malicious attacks and defamation, the atrocities of racism and terrorism? Undoubtedly, behind these multitudes of evils in the drama of human existence lie the absence and the abrogation of love.

Everyday, a little boy is denied parental love, a little girl is abused, a young lady is rapped, a fetus is aborted, a widow is swindled, an orphan is oppressed, drug addicts are mocked and left to their fate, old people are abandoned and forgotten to rot and die, the sick is denied treatment for lack of insurance, the innocent is incarcerated, the wicked is exalted.

The world does not need more wealth, or more gold to mine. The world does not need bigger ceremonies during burial or better eulogies. What the world needs is more of love.

May I ask you:

If you should be a book
everyone would read,
in pages of your life,
would the grieving find consolation,
the wounded find healing,
the hopeless find hope,
the captive find freedom,
the lost find salvation,
the weak find strength,
the fearful find courage,
the sad find joy,
the lonely find company,
the hated find love?

When the last page of your life is read
would faith rise in their hearts,
would their faces glow with hope,
would they become pregnant with new dreams?
Would you be a cherished treasure
proudly displayed
on the shelves of their minds
or would you be another book
quickly tossed away
like an old musty loaf of bread?

The warning signs of a loveless life include being irritable with people, being impatient with people, being very critical of people, not praying for others, withdrawing from people, angry at other people's success, selfish with material things, insensitive to the needs of others, living a false life, taking advantage of people, a drive to hurt people physically or emotionally. When these symptoms begin to rear up their faces in your life, you surely need the prescription of God's divine love. This article may serve as a prophylaxis if you read it with an open mind.

Do you know that:

When the birds sing
sweet melodies in the garden,
when the flowers
spread their auburn wings with smiles
and cheer those who stare,
when the sun kisses the waters
and pours into a cold room
with soothing hands,
when the snow glazes the trees
and dresses the mountains with elegance,
when the rain
waters patched lands and fills empty craters,
and gives life to moribund seeds,
when the sky adorn itself
with hues of gold and blue
and cloth the earth with celestial beauty,
when the moon shed its luminous light
and the stars dance and glow at twilight
gladdening the heart of weary travelers,
they all are affirming
that life is a gift
to share.

The deepest prayer of my heart is that God will make me "a light set on a hill that can not be hidden", and that's my prayer for you today. May His love perpetually shine in your heartt and on your face, and by so doing, touch the lives of others around you.

Remember:

Love listens to someone others have denied
the privilege to speak,
honors someone others have dishonored,
nurses someone others have bruised,
welcomes someone others have
abandoned, cheers someone others have
jeered, feeds someone others have
starved, cloths someone others have
stripped naked, shields someone others
have sought to destroy, defends
someone others have wrongly accused,
takes the place of someone others have
condemned to die.

Love does not major on condemnations
but on solutions, not on criticisms
but on praise, not on taking but on
giving, not on empty promises but on
corresponding actions, not on
manipulations but on honesty, not on
fallacies but on facts.

If love is a missing ingredient in your life, pray to the God of love for a heart to love and He will make you a blessing to your generation.