All You Need is Love

You have been my friend. That, in itself, is a tremendous thing. I wove webs for you because I liked you. After all, what’s a life anyway? We’re born, we live awhile, we die. A spider’s life can’t help being something of a mess, with all this trapping and eating flies. By helping you, perhaps I was trying to lift up my life a trifle. Heaven knows anyone’s life can stand a little of that.
-Charlotte, “Charlotte’s Web” by E.B. White

I remember my mom crying when she read this book to me and my sister. The truth is that we can all be inspired by the words of a fictional spider. Which tend to lead my thoughts toward the question: What is our purpose in life?

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” All the law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.
Matthew 22:37-40

Love is the answer
At least for most of the questions in my heart
Why are we here? And where do we go?
And how come it’s so hard?
-Jack Johnson

My great hope is to laugh as much as I cry; to get my work done and try to love somebody and have the courage to accept the love in return.
-Maya Angelou

Life is love.
Life is smiles.
Life is people.
Life is trials.
Life is not here to be wasted being mild.
-Brian Rowe

So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they’re busy doing things they think are important. This is because they’re chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.
-Tuesdays with Morrie

Sometimes that mountain you’ve been climbing is just a grain of sand. And what you’ve been out there searching for forever is in your hands. And when you figure out love is all that matters after all, it sure makes everything else seem so small.
-Carrie Underwood

It is not that magnitude of our actions but the amount of love that is put into them that matters.
-Mother Theresa

They all say it a little bit differently but there is the same underlying concept of love in each quote, song, or excerpt. All of these people come from different backgrounds and have different belief systems but they manage to agree on the same very important thing- we are here to love each other.

As it is, my Peruvian life is a bit of a rollercoaster of emotions. It is when I am in the “valleys” that I need to remind myself of this. To be selfless is not to wallow in loneliness. It is to focus on showing love to others no matter your own situation.

And if you’ve never read Tuesdays with Morrie, I highly recommend it. There is definitely wisdom in years.

Much Love.