Letting Love Find You

“We do not need to go out and find love; rather, we need to be still and let love discover us.” –John O’Donohue

We want our lives to be meaningful, to give something of true value to the world and those around us. To be certain, none of us are pure. We try to live well. We want to be whole, but in our incompleteness we are bound to do things that were best left undone or have hurt others we meant not to hurt. We are given choices to make and sometimes none of the options seem acceptable, yet we still must choose.

Maybe we chose the practical way through a dilemma the first time around, or a way that seemed safe. Maybe we wished afterwards that we were more courageous, but we just didn’t have it in us at the time. Too much seemed at stake. Nevertheless, we made our decision as we could, and on we went, thinking there was no turning back–the die was set, the nail hammered in.

Further on down the road a similar dilemma presents itself. Once again, we ask ourselves if we have the courage to follow what our hearts tell us is right–the way you did when you found the one you love, for example, and said “yes” to him or her, even though you were unable to see into the future. Do we follow the path that will change our life even though it may be costly, or do we continue on, trying to keep things as they were even though we know this is a defining moment?

So, you make your decision once again as best you can, step by step moving out into the darkness. “Here I am,” you say to that place of unknowing, each step a prayer that love will find you and carry you into a safe place–as safe a place as there is in a world with shifting boundaries.

Robert Frost wrote in his poem, “The Road Not Taken” about choices and the two roads diverged in a yellow wood. The roads he described were both equal and fair. Sometimes the roads we must choose between is neither. We will all be telling our stories ages and ages hence, and when again I am faced with a difficult choice, I want to be traveling down a road that I know has made a difference, at least to me in my own heart.

The safest place I know is is in the arms of those who love me. When we need to know the way to go, maybe the best thing is to stand still and simply say, “I am here,” and listen to what love tells us.