DO YOU POSSESS TRUE LOVE… OR ONLY A PICTURE OF IT?
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Happy St. Valentine’s Day!
On this Valentine’s day, let’s explore the essence of true love with the help of a story.
There was once a person named “J” who had a cute little son “L”. As he had to set out of home for his daily chores, he requested his neighbor to take care of L. His neighbor, who was mentally challenged, agreed. So, J left with L’s picture in his wallet.
J first visited his bank and met the clerk who was always rude with him. But when he opened his wallet, the clerk got to see the picture of L. The clerk was touched by it and his response was quite the opposite. He greeted J with a warm smile and complimented him about his son’s picture. J was astonished.
When J reached his workplace, he flaunted his son’s picture to his boss too. And he saw that his boss dealt with him in a warm and friendly manner, much against his usual short tempered and arrogant demeanor. J’s colleagues were also very helpful after they saw L’s picture that J now sported on the sticky-board at his desk.
During his return, he visited the grocery store. He purposely opened his wallet revealing L’s picture to the vendor. Strangely, the vendor too offered him the best stock of veggies.
Thus, J had a very happy day. Since he had a very good experience that day, he made up his mind that he would always show L’s picture wherever he went.
He returned home to pick his son from the neighbor. To his surprise, his neighbor too showed a great improvement in his response. However, L had fallen ill.
Now, what’s there for us in this story? Why would people undergo a change of heart at the sight of L’s picture? Who was L?
Well! L was none other than “Love”. And the person “J” is none other than us!
We roam everywhere carrying the picture of love. The picture of love is not actually love, but its mere representation. We have left behind our real love, locked up with an abnormal neighbor.
Does this mean that the picture of love is true love? No. It is just a medium which we are using to achieve our personal desires. With honest introspection, we can see that we keep sporting this picture to fulfil our self-centered wishes. We do not realize that we are actually deceiving ourselves in the process. If we keep using the false notion of love to fulfil our own wishes, it only furthers our tendencies of greed and attachment.
It is indeed the grandeur of true love that even the mere sight of its picture can bring about a change in people’s heart. Just imagine, what transformation can be brought about by true love? The mentally challenged neighbor got healed. The neighbor represents human shortcomings. All our shortcomings can be healed in the presence of true love!
When two people decide to get married, anticipating that they will receive love from each other, they are only looking at the picture of love. True love is experienced by giving, not by expecting from others. We need to ask ourselves, “Am I truly loving this person, or am I expecting to receive love?
Without the understanding of true love, relationships could stagnate over a period of time. People feel that they’ve lost that spark that they felt initially. In the process, true love suffers and gets stifled, just like the little boy who fell ill in the company of the difficult neighbor.
It is extremely important for every couple to confess to each other that they believe that they love each other but are yet to unravel the experience of true love together. With this approach, their relationship could blossom into true love.
God has given us this life to understand the essence of true love and share it with others. If we understand the profoundness of this opportunity, we can become a medium of expression of true love.
By trying to conceptualize love in our head, we stifle the flow of true love from our heart. Hence, we shouldn’t create a fixed imprint about the “Dos and don’ts” of love. Let love flow naturally; let it encompass all our virtues as well as blemishes. Let us embrace the qualities of flexibility and forgiveness to experience true love. Then, we will not get caught up in the frame of love that we have fixated in the head. Instead, we will understand love without any boundaries, conditions, or frames.
Let us make good use of this opportunity that St. Valentine’s day presents us, to honestly reflect on our relationships. Let us ask ourselves: Am I prepared to break the fixations that I have held about love? Am I prepared to let go of the picture of love and open myself to the experience of unconditional love?
Let us promise ourselves to let go of the “Terms and Conditions apply” tag and explore the essence of True Love!
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