“Love”

Hello, my friends.

“Somehow, in all of this, Even when it’s hard to be alone , Somewhere, in all of this, I have found a home.” – Sam Shaber

            In the end, it’s all about the love.  When we find ourselves alone in the dark night, grappling with the difficulties and complexities of our seemingly insignificant little lives, the answers lie in a “common bond” that perfuses every cell of our bodies, every person we meet, and every star in the sky.

            At 1:00 this morning, I found myself scribbling the following prayer, and before the ink was dry I knew that if I’ll only memorize it and hold it close to my heart, it will be my reliable guide in every decision and every action for the next 50 years of my life (which would cover me to the age of 109).  It goes like this:

            May I see the world through Your eyes.  May I speak with Your voice.  May I listen with Your ears.  May I touch and work with Your hands.  May I feel and love with Your heart.

            I’m not a particularly religious or spiritual person, but the older I get, the less confidence I have in my own wisdom.  I find that those around me are equally lost, and that they look to me for a strength, a vision, and a discipline that I do not possess.  Failing that, I have no choice but to look to a “Higher Power” for guidance, lest all be lost.

            I find that humility is a virtue worth pursuing, and one that gets easier the more frequently I fall, and the more injuries I sustain (and inflict).  I find myself setting and re-setting the same goals, making the same resolutions, and adopting the same plans over and over again, only to come up short once more.  I find that my “will” power, try as I might, simply “won’t.”

            As a last resort, then, I find that I must change my strategy.  I must swallow my ego, follow my heart, and sublimate my own judgment to a “Power” greater than myself, whoever or whatever that Power might be.  I won’t try to define or understand it.  I only see that it seems to work, that it “knows” that which I cannot begin to know myself.

            The stresses of life are myriad in number and shape – physical, mental, emotional and spiritual… time and money… work and family… etc., etc., etc.  We long for an end to it all, but have no end in sight.  In desperation, we cry out for relief, or look for it in all the wrong places.  “There’s a reason for everything,” we tell ourselves, yet the clarity, the understanding, the vision of the Master Plan does not appear.  Faith and hope take a beating.  All that remains… all that works… is love.

            It is the paradox of love that we can be at the end of our rope, empty and hollow inside, somehow find the courage or the humanity to reach out to someone else in their time of need, and miraculously find ourselves filled up in the process.  It’s as though love flows, not from us, but through us, from a place above and beyond, a place that is indescribable, incomprehensible, and inexhaustible.

            And so, in the end, as in the beginning, it’s all about the love.  And when we ask, as I desperately did in my little early morning prayer, for the amazing grace to move through our world in a constant, conscious awareness of that Higher Power, we are simply asking for the serenity, the courage, and the wisdom to “be” that love in everything we think, say and do.  I can conceive of no better life than that.

Wishing you health, happiness and peace,

Dr. Frank Bowling