The Most Powerful FORCE in the Universe is LOVE!

The Most Powerful FORCE in the Universe is LOVE!
By Tommy Franks

Love is always a choice. Love is kind. Love is true. Love is awesome! Love suffers long. Love does NOT envy another or what belongs to another. Love does not brag or boast of itself. Love is not puffed up. Love does NOT behave itself unseemly. Love does NOT seek its own way. Love is NOT easily provoked. Love thinks no evil. Love does not rejoice in failures. Love does rejoice in the truth. Love bears all things…believes all things…hopes in all things…endures all things. Love never fails.

Every human being on Planet Earth needs to love and be loved! Have you ever asked yourself, "Self, is there any love left in this world?" If you have, you are in the company of millions of others as well. With all the TV programs, movies, news stories, and "woe is me" in the world, we sometimes wonder where all the love went! Read on…

Perhaps, you have heard someone say, "Love is scarce and it's something that I have been deprived of at times. There’s hardly enough love to go around. We must cling to whatever little love comes to us." (This is pure poppycock…nonsense.)

Sometimes, these thoughts are deeply embedded and reinforced in our culture, leaving many people stuck in unhappy relationships…because they feel that's all there is available to them.

I gotta tell you what I think: I think there is an abundance of love…everywhere just waiting to happen. I do not think there is ever a lack of love in this universe of ours. I believe (in the purest sense), love is available everywhere…at every moment… wherever we are. I believe God is love and we are made to love and be loved forever!

Now then, I also believe that before we can experience love in abundance, we must realize that love is plentiful and readily available to us! Don’t buy into the popular belief that love is a commodity and is hard to find…hard to earn…and hard to hold on to. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Therefore, since love is everywhere, we need to believe that we are people (creations) of love! We need to be able to see love. We must believe in love! We each have the power to control our outlook in a situation. However, at times our own negative thoughts and past experiences have blinded us from seeing the abundance of love. That's when we need to release our negative beliefs so that we can let love into our hearts. I have found that when I truly look for love, I can see it almost instantly. Sometimes, love will even track us down…if we will give love a chance!

When we start thinking negatively or buying into traditional fears about love, we then need to start making some affirmations such as:
"This universe is made of love. God is love. Love is everywhere, just waiting for me. Love is wherever I am, just waiting to be expressed. I am a person of value…a person of great worth…a person that deserves to be loved…because I am a person of great love. Right now at this moment, divine love is flowing through me. I am loved!"

Affirmations are positive thoughts and expressions that will consciously replace negativity within us. Verbalizing affirmations at first may seem silly, but if you will persist, you'll find great power and strength in good, solid affirmations, especially about love.

As you may know, I am NOT a "cupid", but I do like to write about IMPORTANT things/issues in life. "Love" is one of those important human elements that we all need. Why? Because, it is part of our human make-up and psyche. We are a tripartite being…a soul, spirit, and body. The soulish realm is where our emotions are born; i.e., fear, hate, love, sorrow, anger, enthusiasm, and other feelings.

In my early life, I did some very stupid things. Oh, yeah! I found out very quickly that "control" is NOT love. No woman wants to be controlled by her husband. I found out very quickly that women…especially independent women…do not want to be controlled. A wife is a separate and whole entity without her husband. She does not need a husband to be fulfilled or to be whole as a woman, wife, or mother. This is NOT easy for husbands to understand. Wives are whole beings before marriage. Marriage does not complete a woman. Marriage may complement, but never take the place of wholeness in a woman’s life.

No woman or man wants to be controlled. Period! Our human dignity and nature crave freedom. If we persist in attempting to control another human being, eventually, rebellion will set in which is absolutely non-productive.

In a truly loving relationship, we feel heard, respected, nurtured, and understood. The continuity of the relationship does not depend upon us always meeting the demands of the other person. Real love nurtures freedom. "Freedom" is an indelible and inalienable right for every human being on Planet Earth. We were created to be FREE!

Assuredly, it is essential to listen to and trust our feelings for a basic sense of well-being. Our intuition is normally correct. Locked up within each of us is a vast magnitude of wisdom that goes far beyond words. As we learn to connect with, listen to, and respect our inner wisdom from God, we are taking a crucial step in learning to love others. At times, we may not be accustomed to accepting the way we feel. Most of our feelings are based on our environment, the things we have been taught, our values, our mores, and previous life experiences.

We live in an incredibly complicated age. Love is at best, complex and confusing. We discuss it and analyze it at length, but we still misunderstand it. There is a simple logic to love, which, like most natural laws…works almost unfailingly…if we respect it.
Some say that the laws of love are as simple as the laws of gravity. I disagree. The laws of love can be complicated. Gravity is pretty simple: If you jump off a building expecting to fly, you will find yourself crashing to the ground. On the other hand, love is a little more complicated than the law of gravity.

When I was a child, I spoke as a child…I acted like a child, but when I grew older…I started acting like a "bigger child", I mean man. As a teenager and young man, some of my relationships were NOT ideal because I had no understanding of love or how it worked. Some of my earlier relationships crashed and burned. I was confused at times. Love was more than just a feeling.

In our lives, we all have…at one time or another…felt betrayed and wounded and perhaps, we did not understand why or what went wrong…Some people begin to feel that something is wrong with them. Others vow never to love again. This is what I did at age 24. I decided to never LOVE again…silly me…

Yes, it was a stupid idea, but there again…I was an idealist and saw the whole world through "pink tinted" glasses in those days. That is when I decided to buy a few books on the subject of "relationships" and later return to college to attempt to understand myself and others. Today, I understand others pretty well, but I'm still trying to understand me. (Just kidding)

After a few years, I realized that few laws are taught on the subject of "Love"…at least in a practical sense. In my case, I quickly learned to "unlearn" what I had preciously learned about what I had learned in the first place about love from my family, friends, and others.

I was taught to be suspicious of others…NOT to trust others…Rely on "self" only. In some cases, especially, in some of my sociology classes, we were taught to help others…but make sure we helped ourselves first. Hello!

Growing up in the 60s and 70s, we were taught to get all we could for ourselves first. The problem: This type of view did NOT result in true happiness, peace of mind, or any true or real love in my life. NOT good…NOT prudent…NOT circumspect…NOT profitable!

This type of thinking was B A A A D D news. The good news is: I chose to change my ways. I decided to change my silly thinking! I chose to live differently from henceforth. In my case, change was good! Within a few days (weeks), I began to feel better about the emotion called "love". I began to see love in the air, the gentle breezes of life, the mountain tops, valleys, clear water brooks, birds in the air, a beautiful lake in the meadows, a baby's smile, squirrels in the tree tops, people's faces, and even the American Flag. That's right…even our flag. The price of our flag has NOT come cheap. It still flies because of love! I am still learning about love.

Love says, “You are a person of greatness, a person of talent, a person of dignity, a person of tremendous value, a person who was created to eat the delicious grapes of eternity, and the very best product that Heaven ever made!"

Love says, “The great tragedy in life is that many of people do not recognize the qualities that they possess.”

The qualities of success that we possess are unlimited. Look at these qualities:

Honesty, Humor, Friendliness, Confidence, Integrity, Persistence, Humility, Goal Setter, Decisive, Hard Working, Learner, Humorous, Positive Mental Attitude, Compassionate, Disciplined, Dedicated, Faithful, Dependable, Knowledgeable, Communicator, Loving, Enthusiastic, Motivated, Patient, Loyal, Organized, Good Listener, Empathetic, Self-Respect, Common Sense, and Good Character.

Most of us do NOT live from a heart of love, but we should. Why should we? Because living from a heart of love means: That we have chosen to live a lifestyle that is true and proper for us and our family. It also means that we have decided to make important decisions based upon our hearts, values, and personal standards. Some people live their entire lives "trying to please somebody else". Some live according to "how others think they should live and what others expect".

Living from the heart means that we can trust our own instincts, our own thought patterns and processes, and our own "gut level" feelings. In others words, we can think for ourselves!

Living from a heart of love means trusting our opinions and judgment more than the pressures of society, friends, family members, and neighbors. This does NOT mean that we become hermits or some recluse or mutineer in our lifestyle. It does NOT mean that we become so different that we become flaky, nutty, or eventually turn others off! However, it does mean that we learn to trust the still small voice within us. Our hearts "actually speak to us" if we will listen. In my earlier years, I spent a large portion of my life NOT listening to my heart. I can tell you, this is extremely non-productive!

The failure to listen and live from the heart will normally cause us a great deal of internal conflict, pain, grief, stress, frustration, and tension. Living from a heart of love will cause the friction to subside and diminish completely. In doing so, we will be "in charge" of our own lives. We will be living our life instead of someone else's (doing what someone else commands or expects us to do).

How do you really want to live your life? Are you living your life based on what others expect of you or want from you? Living from the heart is a basic foundation of human quality and human dignity. Listening to your heart will bring inner peace, inner growth, patience, and great happiness. It causes us to be gentler, kinder, more forgiving, and loving.

As we grow older, our attitude and expectations are the main determining factors of “love” in our lives.

Each of us has two distinct choices to make about how we love and what we do with our lives.

1. First choice: We can make our lives to be less than we have the capacity to be…To earn less….To have less…To read less…Think less…To try less…Love less…and discipline ourselves less. These are the choices that lead to an empty life. These are the choices that, once made, lead to a life of constant apprehension instead of a life of love and wondrous anticipation.

2. Second choice: We can do it all! We can become all that we can possibly be. We can read every book that we possibly can. We can earn as much as we possibly can. We can give, love, and share as much as possible. We can strive and produce and accomplish as much as we possibly can. All of us have this choice…To do or not to do…To be or not to be…To be all or to be less or to be nothing at all…To Love or not to Love.

Sometimes, I tell people that they are being "stretched". To be stretched is a worthy challenge for us. We stretch upward and outward to the full measure of our capabilities. Do we do all that we can do? Do we truly love one another as children of the Most High? Hopefully so! Our ultimate goal, objective, and purpose should be to develop our talent, ability, and skills in the areas of love, giving, being productive, and the acceptance of others. To settle for less…is to fail in the worthiest of undertakings.

Let us talk about “results” for a moment. Results are the best measurement of human progress…Not conversation…Not explanation…Not justification, but Results! And if our results are less than our potential, then we need to strive to become more today than we were yesterday! The greatest rewards are always reserved for those who bring great value and love to themselves and the people around them as a result of who and what they have become…lovable. To love and to be loved even more, we must:

1. Let the past go.
2. If we are holding on to something that doesn't belong to us and it is NOT meant for us, we need to let it go!
3. If we are still nursing past hurts and pains, we must let them go.
4. If someone can't treat us right…love us back…see our dynamic worth, we need to let it go.
5. If someone has angered you, let it go.
6. If you are thinking of "getting even", let it go.
7. If you are involved in a wrong relationship or addiction, let it go!
8. If you are holding on to a job that no longer meets your needs or talents, let it go.
9. If you keep judging others to make yourself feel better, let it go.
10. If you have a bad attitude, let it go!
11. If you are stuck in the past, let it go.
12. If you keep trying to help someone who will NOT receive your help, let it go!
13. If you are feeling distressed and stressed out, let it go.
14. If you have been handling a situation all by yourself and your heart tells you to let it go, Let it GO.

A few days ago as I left our home, I quickly found out that it was raining. At first, I was very disappointed because I had spent the last 30 minutes "blow drying" my hair! But then I said, "So what? We need this slow drizzle. It helps the gardens and the flowers to grow. It helps the birds to find food for their little babies and the squirrels to find acorns for their young.”

What type of world would we have…if it never rained? Rain is good. Life is good! I took out my umbrella and began my long walk (50 yards) to the office. I began to think about how fortunate I am to have a job…a livelihood…a place where people really do care about one another. I began to think about the cool fresh air that my lungs were taking in and breathing! I even began to hum a tune. I would have sung a song, but as a kid, I spent all my "music lessons’ money" on other things; i.e., cars, gasoline, cokes, candy, and…you guessed it, books!

Anyway, today is a very special time in our lives. We have never traversed this territory before…and we will never come this way again. Therefore, any kindness that we can do, we need to do it NOW! This day only has 24 hours in it…and it will be gone before we know it. Today, over 125,000 people (each a human creation) will die and leave Planet Earth. Friends, relatives, and loved ones will gather around. Some will say, "I only wish I had five more minutes to be with this individual and tell her that I truly love her, but she is now gone. There was so much I wanted tell her, but now it's too late!"

Today is special. Today is what we have in the present. Yesterday is forever gone. Forget about it! Neither can we live in tomorrow! Think now! Think about what is important today!

Life is precious. Love is precious. People are special and unique. We each have our own peculiarities and characteristics. Out of over 6 billion people, you are the only you. That is what makes you incredibly special, important, fantastic, marvelous, and fabulously wonderful! There will never be another you.
Today is a good day!
How could anything go wrong?
It's a good day for rolling along.
It's a good day for singing a song.
It's a good day for getting things done!
It's a good day for having some fun!
It's a good day for helping someone!
It's a good day for dyeing my long hair blonde.
It's a good, good, good, good day!
Have an incredible day!