If there is one thing we all long for, that is to love and be loved. We long to reach that place within ourselves where love is forever present and safety and rest are always at home. And even though this is what we all thirst and crave for, for some strange reason we fail to reach our mark. Either because our idea of love is flawed, or because we are too strongly convinced that we already know what love is and we refuse to surrender and let go of our many attachments that stop us from actually loving and being loved. 

“When love beckons to you,” wrote Kahlil Gibran, “follow him, Though his ways are hard and steep. And when his wings enfold you yield to him, Though the sword hidden among his pinions  may wound you… For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you.  Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning…”

Even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you… Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning… Maybe, just maybe, there is more to love than we’ve been told. And maybe, just maybe, it would be wise to open our minds and our hearts and allow love to teach us how to love.  

On Love by Kahlil Gibran

When love beckons to you, follow him,⁣
Though his ways are hard and steep.⁣
And when his wings enfold you yield to him,⁣
Though the sword hidden among his pinions ⁣
may wound you.⁣
And when he speaks to you believe in him,⁣
Though his voice may shatter your dreams ⁣
as the north wind lays waste the garden.⁣
For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. ⁣
Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.⁣
Even as he ascends to your height and⁣
caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,⁣
So shall he descend to your roots and⁣
shake them in their clinging to the earth.⁣
                        ⁣
⁣
Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.⁣
He threshes you to make you naked.⁣
He sifts you to free you from your husks.⁣
He grinds you to whiteness.⁣
He kneads you until you are pliant;⁣
And then he assigns you to his sacred ⁣
fire, that you may become sacred bread for⁣
God’s sacred feast.⁣
All these things shall love do unto you⁣
that you may know the secrets of your⁣
heart, and in that knowledge become a⁣
fragment of Life’s heart.⁣
⁣
But if in your fear you would seek only⁣
love’s peace and love’s pleasure,⁣
Then it is better for you that you cover⁣
your nakedness and pass out of love’s⁣
threshing-floor,⁣
Into the seasonless world where you⁣
shall laugh, but not all of your laughter,⁣
and weep, but not all of your tears.⁣
⁣

Love gives naught but itself and takes⁣⁣⁣⁣
naught but from itself.⁣⁣⁣⁣
Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;⁣⁣⁣⁣
For love is sufficient unto love.⁣⁣⁣⁣
When you love you should not say,⁣⁣⁣⁣
“God is in my heart,” but rather,⁣⁣⁣
“I am in the heart of God.”⁣⁣⁣⁣
And think not you can direct the course⁣⁣⁣⁣
of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, ⁣
directs your course.⁣

⁣
Love has no other desire but to fulfil itself.⁣
But if you love and must needs have⁣
desires, let these be your desires:⁣
To melt and be like a running brook⁣
that sings its melody to the night.⁣
To know the pain of too much tenderness.⁣
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;⁣
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.⁣
To wake at dawn with a winged heart⁣
and give thanks for another day of loving;⁣
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love’s ecstasy;⁣
To return home at eventide with gratitude;⁣
And then to sleep with a prayer for the⁣
beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.⁣

On Love by Kahlil Gibran

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