One Last Message...Love

According to the Urban Monk, the blogosphere is coming to an end. If I had just one last post, what would it be? What would I want to leave as my legacy?

Love... wide and deep, infinite and all-encompassing.

Paradox of love is that the more I give it to others the more it seems I have received... Even if you give love and it's not returned, your brain fills with serotonin, a hormone of well being. The giving of love brings well being.

Power of love is expressed in actions and not just words. For instance, if I show grace and mercy to an enemy I gain more than I can through revenge. Though another person's intentions toward you may be bad, and causes cortisol to fill your brain, you can begin to turn that around by finding a new solution...a "where to from here" approach as you walk away from it and start afresh. For example, Terry Waite, a journalist held captive in Lebanon forgave his captors for taking away five years of his life. He resumed freedom with new vigor rather than stewing in the juices of wrongs. When cortisol fills the brain, it takes years off your life and leaves you susceptible to disease.

Celebration of love brings people together in ways that spills happiness to all. In events such as the first words, the first steps and smiles to graduation, marriage and career to the way we choose to face our final days to bless others around us demonstrate how powerful love is in our lives. These celebrations fill us with serotonin a hormone of well being.

Love for people in the wider world If you're fearful of people unlike you or if you hear rumors about groups of people, ask what you can do to change your assumptions about others since they're likely not true. Many volunteer to care for the wider community.

For instance, I belong to Rotary, which I joined because I want to give "service beyond self." Many Rotarians help meet needs of people in the inner city. I work on a camp board that provides a camping experience for special needs children. By participating in these activities and others, our fears of others soon vanish and we build new respect for many people in the community. Through gifts of Rotarians, polio has virtually been eradicated across the world. Rotarians "build good will and better friendships."

Love for the Natural World We've inherited a very beautiful world. We demonstrate love the natural world by being a good steward of what we received. In this way, we share that bounty with future generations.

The Message of Love a contemporary rendering of the Bible from the original languages by Eugene H. Peterson, provides the goals I have and they reveal the true nature of love in very majestic language...

If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.

If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing.

If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut,
Doesn't have a swelled head,
Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first,"
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn't revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure int the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

To love well takes a whole life's journey and I keep learning more! But be a little easy if I slip up and I'll do the same for you!

Cody McKibbean tagged me as part of the Blog Apocalypse meme. If you want to participate in the Blog Apocalypse meme–Urban Monk will give $500 to charity!! Anyone who wants to participate is welcome–just link to my post here, and link to this page that tells you all about the Blog Apocalypse meme.

STEP ONE
The blogosphere is ending. No more blogs. Blog apocalypse. The Internet is still working, the world is fine. But you can’t write anymore. Write your last post. Make it a good one. What is the reason you blog? What is the last gem of knowledge you want to leave? What do you want to be remembered for? Who are you? What is the meaning of life? Haha…well not exactly but you get the point. Pour your heart into it.

I'm tagging Mike Sansone, Liz Strauss, Rob Watts, Starbucker and Ellen Weber because I'm curious about what they'll develop.