“Love means the body, the soul, the life, the entire being.  We feel love as we feel the warmth of our blood, we breathe love as we breathe air, we hold it in ourselves as we hold our thoughts.  Nothing more exists for us.”

– Guy de Maupassant

What do you see in your mind’s eye when I say, “love?”  Many images show themselves to me.  I see my family — my sweetheart, my children, my grandchildren, my parents, my brother and sisters.  I see my neighbors and friends, I see strangers in need, I see people who write words that stir my soul.  I hear music playing — all different kinds — songs with words and songs whose wordless strains call forth the words and feelings that live in my heart.  I hear the beating of my beloved drums and the way their rhythms dance and weave and combine to create a masterpiece that is unity.  I see the rising sun at the sparkling start of a new day and the setting sun as it slips below the western horizon and disappears.  I see the stars that shine on a moonless night, and the moon herself who reminds us that the light is with us, even when night descends.  I see trees and flowers and birds and stones, crystals and streams and raging rivers.  I see life.

What strikes me most when I hear the word, “love,” is how surrounded I am by so many different expressions of love.  It truly is my entire being — and my reason for being in the first place.  When we open our hearts and open our eyes, we can see that when we say, “I love you,” what we really are saying is that we understand that we have been loved into existence.  We are surrounded by love and filled with love; and now we have no choice but to let it overflow.  It is the love that flows between us, that created essence that defines each of us, that shows us our connection with all other beings in the world.  It is when your love and mine find each other that we realize they come from the same source.  It flows through our veins.  It is the air we breathe.  It is who we are and who we will become.  It is everything.