Eternal Love

The soul is the seat of our mind, will and emotions. It is the center for life’s decisions and attitudes. The soul/heart was created with a spiritual void that requires love to meet its longing and the cry from deep within. This void is unfathomable and cannot be replaced by anything other than the divine Lord, the creator of life and love. The heart longs to be fulfilled and to reach its designed purpose. Sadly because the heart is a lonely hunter the search never ceases until it has spiritual fulfillment. For some, the act of seeking spiritual fulfillment will lead them into the dark side with its negative promises causing ultimate upheaval, erroneous paths or destruction.

A popular country and western song states that we are looking for love in all the wrong places. Regrettably teenagers, who do not understand their misleading emotions, will often succumb to experiences that cause harm and cause chaos well into adulthood. This is the point where Biblical-based intervention, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and Christian counseling become fundamental. [Psalm 107: 9] “For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things.”

Childhood can teach us that the things done by people who say that they love us are not always good, fair, or noble. Since as children will look for and expect truth to be demonstrated by the people in their surrounding sphere, disappointment is inevitable and absolute. When children or adults are emotionally wounded in any fashion, love is kicked down the road like a can because this disappointment does not line up with their desires, wants or needs. At such points in life, one natural response is to blame or hold God accountable for His inadequacies, lack of care or attention.

“You are today where you thoughts have brought you; you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you.” James Allen

The results of our actions are expressed by our achievements and failures, societal positions and shortcomings. In all likelihood, these stations in life are influenced, patterned and modeled from the adults we watched and mimicked as children. All that we experience as children is held for future reference as we analyze our surroundings and the people in our lives. To this point behavioral analysis informs us that children are either nurtured in loving, caring and protective homes or mistreated in abusive ones.

At the core of every human being love is desired. It is an absolute prerequisite of a happy well-adjusted life. This deep innate desire is built into our DNA and will cause a deep hunger or longing for spiritual encounter. All people were created to know the divinity of God our Creator.

“We believe that part of the reason the attention association area is activated during spiritual practices such as meditation is because it is heavily involved in emotional responses—and religious experiences are usually highly emotional.”

The ability to love is inherent in all human beings, regardless of cultures or life styles. However in many societies, the focus on idol worship or occult practices such as voodoo will result in glaring differences in how it is expressed. People there succumb to profound emotional responses that take them into mind-body transformed states that are the negation of love.

“This is true because love is not love if it can be programmed. Love cannot be legislated, manipulated or litigated. It cannot be coerced or demanded. Love can only be received when it is willingly given.”

It is that fact which makes sense of the creation story.

“If God had not placed the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve would have had no choice and no free will. They would have been mere robots following God’s prescribed program. Every response would have been predetermined and would have had no meaning for God. He desires a willing heart that responds to His love.”

Earthly pleasures do not bring the benefit or satisfaction we seek. However, our efforts to replace them with the authentic article can be as sensible as going to Antarctica when you would rather go to Hawaii. Often love so needs to be expressed that it will be lavished upon objects, hobbies, employment, social or environmental causes – objects that we give our attention to but that fulfill us for only a brief moment. The connection formed will touch the emotional realm temporarily, but it fades quickly.

Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia once talked about a contest he was asked to judge. The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child. The winner was a four-year-old child whose next-door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife.

Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman’s yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there. When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, “Nothing, I just helped him cry”

One of the greatest lessons learned is that love comes from the heart; it is spoken from the heart and is experienced in the heart.

Love is healing.