Increasing capacity to love

By Bernice Pipa

It is a commandment second to only one.  It reads, ...Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."  Matt 22: 39  It is my father's favorite song.  It was my favorite FHE lesson and scripture as a child.

Is love a feeling we are blessed with , the status of a relationship, or the action that displays it?  Love is charity.  My husband, Andy, said while we were dating, "You don't fall in love, you don't fall out of love, you choose to love."  I believe that's true.  Although each relationship is different in the expression of love, the essence is still the same.  We find value in a person, and express it through thought, word, and deed.

Love is a capacity .  It is as a vessel that can be filled, expanded, overflow.  God IS Love;  it is the nature of divinity to love and be loved.  And possessing that nature as His children, it is our essence.  By receiving from this infinite fountain of love, at the moment we share from our vessel it is replenished.  We can cap it, however; limiting the love given and received.  If we don't receive God's love, we cannot have faith in Him (because faith requires trust.)

Developing this capacity is cyclical.  1.  We must first receive.   Drink deeply from the fountain.  2.  We must seek to share that love with others.  A fire that is enclosed, is a fire that dwindles.  3.  We must love self.  Believe that we are worth the faith invested in us by a loving Father in heaven.  We must treat ourselves with kindness and compassion.

Why love self?  This is NOT selfishness.  (Remember capping that love diminishes it.)  Softened hearts are synonymous with having an open cap on the vessel.  If we believe there is no reason that God would love us, we limit how much love we will receive from him; we restrict it.  If we are self-loathing, we assume others think about us as we do; perceived disappointment.  We then limit our second, indirect source of love; love from our family, friends, neighbors, and associates.  If we judge our faults harshly, we find those similarities in others and judge them.  When we do not accept love from others, we silently tell them their love isn't worthy or acceptable.  Our ability to love self is equal to our ability to love others.

We each have a need for love, being God's children.  If we are not filled with love, we will look to other sources for love.  We become reliant upon others for our self-worth, justification, and love.  Physical and mental addiction, abuse of self or others, excessive diversion (leaving a course to which God appointed us for a useless one/ virtual accomplishment.)  We teach our children, by example how to shun love.  Any act of reducing love is the result of pride; a division between us and anyone else.  The result is devastating to family, community, self, eternal potential, and the glory of God.

Let us better seek an eternally satisfying course, love others, love self, and thus love God.  For each soul that is loved can better love others.

Mad Gab Shopping

Shopping can be such a chore with kids.  And as a mom, is just part of the daily grind (or weekly if you have enough fridge space for several gallons of milk.)  But years ago I started giggling at my husband's spelling while shopping.  And the best way to ensure a boy doing something over and over is to laugh at him.  It's a born-in male instinct to want to make people laugh. So if you're looking for a way to make shopping less of a drudgery, marry someone who kant spail.

Don Quixote

Since my childhood I enjoyed Don Quixote.  For those of you who are unfamiliar it's story of an old man (the errant knight) who is losing his mind and craves nobility.  So he lives out his dreams of battling dragons (windmills) and saving damsels in distress (a bar maid) and rides on his noble steed (nag).  It good for a lot of laughs, and as the story develops we find that he is of great nobility, not because of his quests, but because of his heart... awwww.  What's not to like?  Danger, humor, intrigue, romance.

Well, if you're like me you get a kick out of it because you know that this is just one of those songs that gets stuck in your husband's mind... for days.  And so you sing it at the top of your lung once a year or so just to ensure proper penetration into the cerebral cortex!  It's the little things that matter most.  And with any luck friends that read your blog will suffer the same fate.

But last night I discovered something new that tickled me... perhaps it was the hour, perhaps it was all the joy and memories of this operetta.  But I laughed heartily when Andy said, "When I was a kid I thought his name was Donkey Hoteh.  I couldn't understand why his parents would name him DONKEY..."  Well it seems to suit the story and all the humor it naturally evokes.  So to all of you, enjoy DONKEY Hoteh!

Street Corner meets Sesame Street

Our new favorite rising band is Street Corner Symphony.  They're cheeky, entertaining, old (they remember the 80's well) and make marvelous music together.  Our 2 1/2 year old son, Jim, has a favorite of that they covered.  According to him, it's called, "Down on Block Corner, on Sesame Street."  We are well acquainted with Track 5 of our CD.  And we can listen to it about 4 times on any cross town journey.  He even does the jazz hands at the end of the song.  My favorite part is that the more I hear it, the more I imagine toddlers sitting on the corner in their diapers w/ their super man curls playing on trashcan lids, kazoos, and rubber band tissue box guitars.  While patiently awaiting the listeners to make a deposit into the piggie bank.  I've convinced myself that this, indeed, would be a great parody for Sesame Street.

Early in the afternoon just about nappy time,

Over by the playground they're starting to unwind,

Four kids on the corner trying to bring you up.

Jimmy picks a tune out and he blows it on his harp.

Chorus:  Down on Block Corner,

On Sesame Street,

Jimmy and the little boys in the band.

Bring a nickel; tap your feet.

Grover hits the washboard and people just got to smile,

Big Bird, thumps the gut bass and solos for a while.

Elmo twangs the rhythm out on his kalamazoo.

Jimmy goes into a dance and doubles on kazoo.

Repeat Chorus

You don't need a penny just to hang around,

But if you've got a nickel, won't you put your money down?

Over on the corner there's a happy noise.

People come from miles around to hear the magic boys!

Repeat Chorus

The whole world is covered...

... IN POOP!  My husband is a germ-aphobe; perhaps one of the reasons I married him was to watch and be entertained at his expense.

My favorite verse of a camp song to demonstrate my demented humor:

Oh I wish I were a little church pigeon!

Oh I wish I were a little church pigeon!

I would sit upon the steeple and poop on all the people!

Oh I wish I were a little church pigeon!

Witnessing  my husband change baby diapers was a riot; it went something like this. (So apparently he's not the only one.  And in complete honesty the hastening time to potty train our youngest is not anticipated with great joy.)  But when he comes unglued at the bird droppings and spends over an hour hosing down the kids yard toys I burn more than a few calories in side splitting laughter. 

However, he takes little regard to NOT parking under the tree and recently Andy began to take the bird droppings on his car personally.  He proclaimed, "I've been noticing, no one else has the extent of bird poo on their car that I have!"  Moments later we walked out of the store and found another car that also likely parked under trees.  To his relief in response to his incorrect hypothesis he exclaimed, "My car is not the only bird toilet!"  Gives new meaning to the word porta-potty, doesn't it!