Love'em UP!

We all want to be loved

Wherever we are in life

Whatever we are going through

As we are

In our ugliest moments

And our shiniest moments

We just want to be loved

Accepted

Understood

Heard

Known

Appreciated

Allowed to be

Without judgment

Without projection of shame or guilt

Coerced into being who others need us to be

 Manipulated by imposed expectations

Placing how others feel over our Truth

We all just wanna be LOVED UP!

By another

Like a puppy licking our face

Because it can’t help it

Showering us with affection

It cannot NOT love us

On our funkiest days

Love abides

As it runs to us

Standing by our side come what may

Silently showering us with its heart

Looking into the depths of us

Soul to soul

Human to truest fury friend

Let’s take a cue

The best plan is always:

LOVE’EM UP!

Love is the healer

Love is the miracle

Our heart serves all

Our judgment serves no one.

 

My nephew’s wife, Jan who is a professional photographer texted me a picture of her son, Henry, who is almost 5 loving up his younger sister, Ruthie who will soon be 3.  They are squeezing each other with such delight that their eyes are closed yet still smiling brilliantly as you can feel the pure love in that moment captured.  Jan added this quote by Suzie Huitt to the side of the photo:  Brother and sister, Together as friends, Ready to face whatever life sends.  Joy and laughter or tears and strife, holding hands tightly as we dance through life.

When I received the text from Jan, I had just finished a conversation where the focus was on Love’em Up!  It was perfect timing to see the essence of this message in the innocence of Henry and Ruthie.  Now, I know that as all kids do especially all brothers and sisters do, Henry and Ruthie can also terrorize each other like no one else can.  But they sure know how to let go and love big.  They don’t hang on to crap or get self-righteous believing they have never harmed or offended anyone.  They simply cannot.  Bitterness and resentment is something we develop as we mature.  (That makes me laugh out loud as I wrote it – what walking contradictions we are!)  As we learn shame and guilt, we project this on to others, judging harshly by perfectionist standards or based on how we think others should live – what’s best for all through our personal view of what is right and wrong.

I remember saying several years ago as a “spiritual” practice which was actually based in my inability to love my Self wherever I was, in the ugliest moments of my life:  Bless me where I am AND help me know/do better…Bless so and so and so and so AND help them know/do better.  This is humorous because I truly believed that I was all-loving and all-accepting not realizing that I was imposing perfectionism on my Self, setting conditions for self-love and judging others through my standard for living.

Love is a natural flow from within us.  Children show us this.  Dogs show us this.  When we choose love over judgment, we open and feel so alive in this space of truth.  We become vessels of love like children and animals.  I think of the Prayer of St. Francis:  Make me a channel of thy peace.  Where there is hatred let me bring your love…This is about tapping into the well within where love springs eternal without human limitations and conditions.  We don’t have to try to love as this big love simply is and always will be so when we allow it, we are tuned in to the essence of who we are.  Withholding love from our Self or others in unnatural and causes an uneasiness, a repression of beauty and truth.

Obviously, we all have opinions and from a place of sincere caring, we want good for others.  But our misstep comes when we think we know what is best and don’t honor an individual’s right to choose, to experience their soul’s journey here on earth.  Love’em up!  The way you want to be loved when you are making choices for your life that cause conflict or divisiveness among those you care about.  Your LOVE is the all-healing balm.  Your love is the miracle in any moment.  Stand by those you love and be present to wherever they are, knowing it is their life, their sacred dance even in the ugliest moments.

The invitation this day is to love your Self up instead of judging your Self or holding your Self to standards that leave you feeling less than wonderful about who you are and this life you are privileged to live.  It starts with loving our Self unconditionally which requires us to let go of rigid requirements, check lists that say I am lovable only when…or others are lovable only when…Sip this in:  Your heart serves everyone.  Your judgment serves no one.  LOVE’EM UP!!!