Loving Your Way Through It

 Every challenge in life is accompanied by an opportunity, and a choice. What to do; hold on and keep believing or let go and walk away? Most choices are based on emotions, yet sometimes walking away and letting go is the human approach to disconnecting emotion from making a decision. Almost every time we choose to have faith and hold on, it is based on the most powerful of emotions; love.

How much does love influence us? It is the fire that ignites the very best in humanity. It encourages us to believe in the impossible, to hold on when others cannot see any reason to. Love is the foundation that stands on faith; it believes in that which cannot be seen or in many cases cannot be imagined. Can we see or hear love?

We see love in the eyes of parents who give all that is necessary to protect and nurture a child or an elderly parent. We hear love in the sound of our baby's first cries as they embrace the new life we welcome them into. We see it in the eyes of a loving partner or friend who is willing to keep believing in us, or supporting us in the worst of times. These are the assurances we experience daily, proving that love is real.

How do we make the choice about what to do? If you love the person involved, chances are you will choose to love them all the way through a challenge, even one that seems unconquerable. Love never seems to notice that it is too late at night or not a good time to reach out and touch us, even when we may seem unlovable. Love provides us with vision that sees beyond the moment.

Is there a tried and true method to recognize when love is the motivating factor in the decisions we may not understand? While it may be most obvious by looking in the eyes where love cannot be disguised, the real proof is in the staying power. When we love someone, or they love us, it remains all the way through the toughest of times. It simply refuses to let go or stop believing.

Love begins with believing in ourselves, in learning to love ourselves to the extent that we would never allow another person to erode or destroy the core of who we are. It is then that we are capable of loving completely and loving another person all the way through the toughest of times.