Choose to love

Each love you nourish in your life teaches you more about how to love. I try to learn to show love to others as I wish others would show love to me. When I exercise my ability to love gently and kindly, it nourishes everyone I touch but it only changes ME. It changes the way my heart feels.

When I am hurt and forgive it, I feel eased, released from the stress of being upset or emotionally in pain. I can't change how another person is feeling. I can only decide how I will feel.
When I can offer help it lets my heart smile. It is in how we interact with others, how WE each decide to act toward others, that the hope of a good world is brought closer to reality.

A seed can only grow to be like the flower is came from. You can loosen the soil, locate it in the proper amount of sun, keep the weeds away and feed it - offering your labor, your time and your care to the seed. Still, a zinnia seed will only grow to be a zinnia flower.

With your extra care, it will be the best and most healthy zinnia flower it can be, but it will still be a zinnia. What comes from your care of it is your increased exposure to sunshine, more exercise of your muscles, more contemplation of what you can do to help it flower better, thinking caring thoughts - YOU grow stronger for your care of the flower.

People can only be what the seed in them is designed to be - we can't change that, even in ourselves. But our loving care of each other can help us all be the best at being what we are.

It is YOU who changes from giving love to others. You learn to encourage, not discourage; to offer a hand up, not a hand out; to feed a spirit as well as a body. Your heart learns to see that they don't need to change, any more than you do - you just need to accept them as they are and yourself as you are.

Love them just as they are and learn to see what you can do to encourage them to be their very best self. Love yourself JUST as you are and know that each time you overcome your anger or hurt to forgive a friend that the world IS a better place. Be the best and most loving YOU that you can every day.

Lu 12:31 But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.

If God is love and the kingdom of God is composed of love, then the kingdom is in each heart that loves - your heart and mine. Seek to love freely, to forgive easily, to show others how to love as you wish love would be showed to you here.

Plant your feet in love and expand the border of His Kingdom on this planet. His Kingdom come, His will be done. In His Unconditional and Divine Love I trust. Choose to love.