Love With a Capital L

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'It's never too early for an 'I love you''. I believe this because I do, not because I have to. I opened this morning with an 'I love you'. I often do. This morning, I think, it was needed more than any other morning in recent memory. I'm not sure who needed it more - me or her. We might be even on that one. I needed to say it and I suspect she needed to hear it. That's the cool thing about 'I love you'. Both sides win. Hearing it feels good, but so does saying it.

The other day following a phone conversation about a mutual friend who had been injured in a car accident, a friend said 'I love you' as she hung up. I'm not sure she'd ever said that to me before. Usually it's 'hugs' which I've always taken as an expression of love. I, of course, said 'I love you' in return and meant it. I do love her. Not in a romantic, I-want-to-marry-you kind of way, but in a sweet, I-can't-imagine-my-life-without-your-friendship kind of way. I love her and she loves me. It had been an unspoken understanding for awhile; something we didn't talk about but felt in our hearts. Saying it didn't seem to matter or make it more real. What is is. It's that simple.

Hearing her say it out loud was special, though. It was probably what we both needed, given the situation. In the moment that we realized that our friend was lucky to be alive and that the last time we saw him could have been the last time we saw him, a spoken 'I love you' seemed like the only thing to say. I'm sure it wasn't a conscious decision. 'What if this is the last time I talk to Stacee? I better make sure she knows I love her'. In my view, it was a spontaneous expression of love that emerged from the soul and came through the heart. It wasn't thought out; it was instinctive. My reply was similar.

I hung up the phone and a tear slid down my cheek. Not out of sadness, but from the realization of love. I am lucky, so very, very lucky. Love is everywhere. I feel it in every way every day. My friends love me, my co-workers love me, God loves me. I am loved and I love in return. The beauty is that it's so much more than that. It's an energy that surrounds me, holds me close, and binds us all together. Sitting here I feel it as much as when I get a hug from a friend or exchange an 'I love you'. It's in my head, my heart, and my soul.

I am Love. With a capital L. I get it. I do. Finally. Once I had nothing, then I had Faith. Once I had only Faith, then I had Trust. Once I had only Trust, now I have Love. Now I have everything.


'The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.'

~ Galatians, 5:6





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