Love is a great ideal! It is
extolled in books, in songs, and in our hearts. We seek love, we seek to give
love. We believe that we can express love by giving to others, in helping them,
and doing things that will bring them joy. We strive to protect them from care
and dangers, we provide for their material needs.Many sacrifice a lot for family and all those that are considered as loved ones. This is great. Material care cannot be ignored without dire consequences. However, as in everything, there has to be a balance here as well. The material must not be our principal aim. We must add a striving for that which is noble, high, and ideal.
And, indeed, there is another kind of love! This love respects the beloved, it helps where help is needed and does what is of real and deeper spiritual benefit to the beloved. This love makes no demands, nor is it traded for the love and loyalty of the loved ones. It is given without calculations of the expected benefits or of trapping the loved ones into obeying all the unreasonable demands of the giver. This love under consideration actually gives strength to the loved ones to the extent that these ones will also begin to desire to become better human beings! Just imagine!
This kind of love most
importantly leads the giver upwards! How? Genuine love engenders in us the
longing to attain to what we are considered to be in the eyes of those who love
us. This longing can only make us do that which is good always and with such a
desire for the good we have found the right path upward spiritually! We have
found the path of chastity, the path of grace, the path of faithfulness, the path of beauty, the
path of childlikeness, and the path of love which leads to God Who is LOVE!
