All you need is love, love, love, love....

.... love is all you need!  Well, can you hear the Beatles singing this song? I can - will likely not be able to get it out of my mind for the rest of the day! I have been hearing this message everywhere I go - all we need is love; love is the answer; people are looking desperately for love; loving-kindness can make such a difference in a life.  The message resonates loudly and clearly - the world is looking for love.  No big revelation here - it has been this way since the beginning of time. So how do we know when we are loved? Sometimes it is like the wind blowing across the waters - you cannot see it but you can feel it.  It washes over you and brings a sense of warmth and well-being. Love can be seen, in an act of kindness. Love can be felt, in a gentle hug when it is so desperately needed. Love can be heard, in a simple thank you. 

I remember days of old, not believing I was loved or cared for or precious to anyone. That awful sense of the realization that I was not worth being loved for who would want me? The sense of shame that I was somehow born "less than" the rest of the world. The lack of joy as I sank deeper into the abyss of sorrow, unhappiness and hopelessness.  And then You stepped into my life and oh, how that has changed!  For you have removed my sense of shame and replaced it with Hope!  My sorrow has been replaced with Joy! And my lack of self-worth has been changed to s Spirit of Confidence!

I understand why the world is looking for love, for love has the power to heal, and to restore and to make whole.  It is like a soothing balm on a wound.  Love can bring about miraculous changes in a person's life, changing them into something so much more precious than gold or silver or diamonds. I know that I know that I know this is true, for I am living it and walking in it and believing in it and growing day by day.  So I guess perhaps it is not a bad thing that the Beatles’ song will be playing in my head today, reminding me of this truth, for I believe the Beatles had it right - Love really is all you need....