Give to Give, Love to Love

“Do not kiss your children so they will kiss you back but so they will kiss their children, and their children’s children.”

- Noah benShea

One of the first things I do when I get to the office each morning is make myself a cup of tea. This morning, I decided to add a little sweet to my tea, so I picked up a packet of sugar from the communal sweetener basket. On one side of the sugar packet read: "Sugar for the Soul," and on the other side, the quote above was inscribed. I thought, What a great idea... A bit of inspiration combined with a bit of sugar to sweeten the start of my day! Then I gave benShea's wise words a moment of consideration...

Too often, we give and love with the expectation that we will receive something and be loved in return rather than out of the simple joy and desire to give and love unconditionally. When we expect something in return, are we ever truly satisfied? If we have expectations of getting our return favors, then we set ourselves up to be disappointed when the favors do not come our way. On the other hand, if we give and love others without anticipating a reward, the simple act of giving and loving is reward enough. To see love grow, live, and thrive in others is a blessing. To be loved in return would just be an added bonus!

Is it really that simple, to give and love unconditionally? We have it in our heads that it is difficult and challenging, but the act of love is not inherently so complicated as we make it to be. We confuse and confound our idea of what love is and how to love because of all the stories we make up about what we think it should be and how we should do it (there's that lovely expectation again!)... I say, why not consider what love could be and how we could love? To me, love has endless possibilities, which is what makes it such a powerful force. Possibilities grow in number the more we open up our hearts to give and let love in. I cannot say what love exactly is or what the proper procedure is when it comes to loving others, but I am open to the possibility of learning... Let the lesson never end; let my ability and willingness to love and be love never relinquish.