“The truth is that the more intimately you know someone, the more clearly you’ll see their flaws. That’s just the way it is. This is why marriages fail, why children are abandoned, why friendships don’t last. You might think you love someone until you see the way they act when they’re out of money or under pressure or hungry, for goodness’ sake. Love is something different. Love is choosing to serve someone and be with someone in spite of their filthy heart. Love is patient and kind, love is deliberate. Love is hard. Love is pain and sacrifice, it’s seeing the darkness in another person and defying the impulse to jump ship.” ~The Great Kamryn Our deepest love This brings up some great things to reflect on about love. It encourages us to walk the extra mile again and again and again. There is certainly merit in that and often this dedication brings great joy and satisfaction in the end. This level of love certainly calls us to step into our most authentic selves. In fact if we don’t, I don’t think it is possible to find the inner strength that this love asks of us. We must know ourselves deeply and be able to support ourselves in order to support another in their dark days. In a spiritual partnership, you acknowledge the strengths and weaknesses of each other. You know that in your relationship you will encounter all sides. You have an intention to support your partner to become the best version of themselves that they can and vice avers. You do not run when the the dark begins to rise as you know that as you both have the courage to face this, it will clear and the sun will shine even brighter on your relationship. Many people have not understood relationship in this way. We have looked at a relationship to “save us”, to “fill us up”. That doesn’t last for long. The one doing the saving may enjoy that role for awhile but grow weary and even resentful of the weight that is placed on them over time. It may feel great to be “everything” to someone at the begining but again, after awhile that is exhausting and impossible. The key word here is “partnership”. We must first learn to “partner ourselves” and then we can truly partner another. Fulfilling love is a long journey. It has many twists and turns. It will surprise us and delight us. It will confuse us. It is a great read. But when we find the great love within ourselves, we have a chance of finding that great love with another. When we can embrace our own “filthy heart”, we will not fear that of the other. Written by Melanie J. Williams - melaniejwilliams/our-filthy-heart/
Posted on: Sat, 23 Aug 2014 23:51:20 +0000