An overflow of love

A good friend and I were discussing the essence of love one day, and we both realized that love is the quality that everyone most longs to feel each day because it has the power to uplift, encourage, regenerate, and heal. At the same time, though, love also often seems to be the source of fear, pain, and anxiety—especially when a cherished relationship comes to an end. This apparent paradox challenged me to think more deeply about what love really is. Could the same quality that makes one feel valued and strengthened also cause one to feel incomplete and broken?

Well, the simple reality is that it can’t. Love is the loveliness of God’s creation, reflecting only good. This good is manifested in joy, unity, abundance, courage, and spiritual strength—qualities that are present at every moment. Love could not also produce discord, separation, or lack. Mary Baker Eddy wrote in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, “The depth, breadth, height, might, majesty, and glory of infinite Love fill all space” (p. 520). With all space filled with Love, there simply isn’t room for anything else. 

So what about the claim that when we enter a relationship with another person (whether it’s familial, platonic, or romantic), our supply of love is increased, and then decreased when we part ways?

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