Love. Is. Everything.

Many people much more talented than me have written so much about Love. That includes songs, stories, poems, statements, theories … you get the idea.

Peter Gabriel sings in his song, Book of Love:  “The book of love is long and boring. No one can lift the damn thing. It's full of charts and facts and figures and instructions for dancing.”

Sting sings about Love, in his Sacred Love: “Don’t need no doctor. Don't need no pills. I got a cure for the country’s ills.”

One of my all-time favorite statements on Love was penned by the late great M. Scott Peck in his book, The Road Less Traveled. Peck wrote: “Ultimately, love is everything.”

When I think of Love I try not to complicate the meaning behind it, how it works, what it means, and so on. I keep it simple, as I try to do with all things in my life. Simplicity keeps me grounded and out of deep left field attempting to analyze life and failing to draw conclusions. Indeed, I try to simplify.

Everyone deserves Love. Everyone is entitled to Love. I am sure that many of the anxieties and insecurities in my life stem in large part from the Love I never received from a very mean-spirited stepfather. I didn’t realize this until the last five years or so. In realizing it I was able to then deal with it, accept it, move on, and grow. In Love.

I find Love in so many places in my life. The irony of that is that the Love I experience it isn’t always Love directed toward me. It’s Love I see in others. It’s Love shared. It’s Love in action. It’s Love in small gestures. It’s Love in smiles. It’s Love in laughter. It’s Love in a breath. It’s Love in a heartbeat. It’s very much Love in the eyes of my children.

Yes, I see Love all around me. It’s plentiful, but we don’t always take time to recognize it. It takes awareness and a gentle heart. Stop. Look. See. Feel it. It’s there. I appreciate it. It makes me happy. It makes me feel … Loved.

I was driving to work recently and saw a man holding a little girl while they waited for the girl’s school bus. As I neared them I saw the father laugh playfully with the girl, tickling her, and she laughed and put her head near his. Tender. That is Love. It was a wonderful moment for me at the beginning of my day.

I almost pulled my car over to tell that man how much I appreciated his gesture of Love to that little girl. The next time I see something similar, I will stop. Everyone deserves Love. And everyone who gives Love deserves to be thanked for doing so.

I am a firm believer that Love can heal a soul. I know it happens. I’ve seen it happen. It healed mine.  That random Love shared between the father and daughter … that’s the stuff dreams are made of. It’s Love. It heals.

To that man on that morning: “Thank you for sharing your Love with your daughter. And with me.”