Its a beautiful sunny day and a mother and her child are lying on their backs, playing with little shards of grass and looking up at the sky. They are surrounded in a sea of green in a field over-growing with honeysuckles and sunflowers. The wind blows gently and with it the smell of pine trees is ever present. They are completely hidden away in their special place and they both grin gleefully as they watch the clouds float by. Suddenly the child turns toward the mother and asks a question, “Momma what is Love?” At that very moment, time stands still. The wind ceases its flow and the clouds hover overhead. Unbeknownst to them, the birds fly down from their perches, the bees silence their buzzing and land on the closest flower petal and the squirrels stop their foraging to hear the answer to this age old question.

The mother smiles and asks the child, “What is Love to you?”. The child turns from the mother and looks up at the sky and thinks really hard.

“Well momma, you tell me and daddy that you Love us all the time. I tell you and daddy the same but I really don’t know what that word means. I can only guess that maybe it means you like us a lot?”

The mother smiles and touches the child’s face gently, ever so tenderly, and the child shudders, smiles and says “I Love when you do that momma. It feels really good.”

The mother raises up on one elbow and looks at her child. “Sweetheart, what you felt just then was Love.”

The child’s eyes widen with amazement, “So THAT’S what Love is…a good feeling.”

“You are getting closer dear heart. But what if I told you that I get that same feeling each and every time I see your face, without touching you or without your touching me, would that make things clearer?”

“So Love is how the other person makes you feel?”

The mother frowns and begins to laugh, “You really asked a tough one this time didn’t ya?” She leans over and begins to tickle her child’s belly and the child responds with boisterous laughter. As she tickles her child she gains clarity.

“Ok, OK. Remember when I tell you to clean your room when you forget?”

“Yes”

“Well even though you are upset with me because you’d rather play. Your Love for me doesn’t change does it?”

“No momma, I will always Love you”

“Love is a feeling, true, but its also much more. Its a connection we share with everything. Its an invisible chord that connects us all. Its how you can be upset with me and still Love me at the same time. Love will never disappear, however your anger towards me at that moment does right?”

“Right momma. I’m beginning to understand now. That’s why I can say I will always Love you because no matter what I do or what you do my Love is always there.”

“Right Love. Now lets take it a step further.”

The child sits up excitedly “Yes, lets!”

“I read a quote as a little girl about Love and now I would like to share it with you. But first, remember we talked about religion and how different religions have different names for their Creator. Some of the names people all over the world have for their Creator are Allah, God, Jehovah, Krishna, Olorun, and Yahweh.”

“Yes momma I remember.”

“And even though we have all these different religions and all of these different names for the Creator almost all of them believe the same thing, ‘The Creator is Love.’ We can even say, Love is The Creator. Now, I want you to look around and really take in all of Creation. I want you to find one thing in this field, besides me, that could never hurt you and then I want you to find another thing that may hurt you depending on the circumstances.”

The child looks around the field at all of Creation and thinks real hard about the choices. Finally the child speaks, “Well momma, I picked this flower and a bee. I picked the flower because I know that this flower could never hurt me and I picked the bee because I know if I were to get very close to it, it may sting me and that would hurt.”

“Great observation. Now, are not both those things of the Creator?”

“Why yes momma they are actually…awwwwwh I see.” The child eyes light up from amazement. “Oh momma, may I finish your thought!?”

The mother smiles and says “Why sure my dear, please continue.”

“Both of these are of the Creator and the Creator is Love so both the flower and the bee are Love. And it doesn’t matter how I feel about them I Love them because they are both of the Creator. I know that it is safe for me to freely Love this flower and although the bee is Love I still have to be cautious around it because it may sting.”

The mother sits up and gives the child a big, big hug. “Yes baby!”

The child blushes and gets that “feeling” all over again. “Now I understand Love momma.”

As the mother releases her hug she begins again. “There is even more to it baby! I don’t know if you remember or not, but when you were a little baby you walked up to a flower and just as you were about to smell it, a bee came out of that flower and you began to back away a little. There was something that made you respond, without words, that told you that the bee might harm you and obviously you listened and you stepped back. Well honey, that’s the connection. That’s also Love!”

“I used my instincts right?”

“Yes Love. Your instincts are a gift from the Creator. I’m sure the bee didn’t want to harm you but the bees nature is to sting if it feels threatened. Your connection with the bee allowed your instincts to tell you to back away from the flower as it approached. The same goes with all things baby. Even though we are all Love we must listen in here”, The mother places her hand over the child’s heart, “for messages from the Creator…from the Divine.”

“Wow momma the world is filled with so much mystery. I Love being alive and I am happy that I have a mother as beautiful as you.”

“Awwwh honey…” The mother leans over and gives the child a kiss on the cheek and looks deep into the child’s eyes. “My dearest heart, every time I think of you, I think of beauty. You are my precious flower and you radiate beauty inside and out. I Love you dear heart. Not just because of the way you make me feel but because I recognize that you are of the Creator. I recognize and respect the Love inside you. I can see Love in your actions, your words, how you treat others and Love radiates from within and shines for all the world to see. I Love you because you are Love my Love.”

The child smiles and says “I Love you too momma.” and they both feel the Love…

And so do all the onlookers that had stopped to hear their story. They listened and they are all satisfied. The squirrels begin they’re playful hunt, the birds fly off singing their songs of the day and the bees begin to fly and collect nectar, the wind begins to blow and the clouds float on by.

The Beginning…

Author's Note: Lesson of Love

Most of us have said the words “I Love You” before, but rarely do we take the words and analyze them to find out what they mean together. In this story, the child only had a concept of what the word meant and the mother gave her interpretation of what it was. What have you been taught about Love? How often do you tell the people in your life that you Love them? You know, some people will only say those words if a person makes them feel a certain way or if a person does certain things they want. But is that Love really? Most of us have felt Love before and if we stop to think about it…is Love really dependent on material things? What if everything was taken away from us right now, our homes, money, even toys, and all we had were the basic necessities such as food, water and shelter? What would you have to base Love on then? Lots of questions about about Love, there are. Let your mind rest and things will become more clear to you while you sleep.

Sweet Dreams.