August 29

”To acknowledge love is to increase its capacity to heal us; to ignore love is to let it slip away.” Marianne Williamson

I used to think I knew what love was, that I understood what it meant to connect with someone and to have that someone share in my life. Yet I was not capable of fully comprehending this, not in my addiction when I had so great a secret that I was carrying with me at the same time. To be that intimate with someone requires brutal honesty, and I was certainly not very truthful during that time. I did let love slip away, in many relationships, not just that with my wife, but with my kids, my parents, my sister, everyone who was closest to me. The love I thought I was seeking turned out to be only lust, a base, carnal, physical need without any depth or true intimacy. It consumed me and drove me into myself and away from the people and things that truly mattered in my life. And it certainly distanced me from any kind of healthy Higher Power as well. I am beginning to see what love really is, the unconditional kind. It is not about what I can get in return, but what I have to offer, freely and without expectation. Love is not only an emotion, a connection, but a choice. It is because of the grace of my Higher Power that I have found love to share, not only with those who are important but everyone I meet for we are all cut from the same cloth.

Affirmation True love is a gift meant to be shared freely, without the condition of receiving anything in return. I choose to share my love because I have it to give.