A friend wrote a beautiful post about how wonderful it is to be able to take care of all her children’s needs when they are so young. She can swoop them in her arms and take all their cares away.
It got me thinking: do our needs ever change? Doesn’t everyone want the same thing:
To express themselves fully and be loved completely?
My head was in the clouds as this thought fluttered by, when Jack ran up to me eagerly explaining his made-up game, tripping over his words in excitement. I praised him and stole a quick kiss before he ran off to continue his game with Max. His face was bright with the certainty of being himself and being loved.
In the news, as always, there are a lot of stories of conflict. The Arab Spring didn’t spring in Syria. Gays fight for full civil liberties in the US. Governments fight for power. People inside of governments fight each other for power.
But the conflicts don’t stop there. They continue on family and personal levels. Who deserves what, and how much?
Ultimately, these conflicts boil down to the same human desire:
Love.
Can’t we give that to each other? Isn’t that free, excepting the cost to pride and rigidity?
Love is as simple as it was when we were children and could be scooped into our mothers’ arms. It’s just that we forgot how to surrender. We forgot that surrender is not defeat. We forgot how to get lost in a belly tickle.
We forgot that freedom is found only in letting go, not holding on.
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