One of my favorite movies is Moulin Rouge and one of the lines from the movie says, “The greatest thing in all the world is to love and be loved in return.” I love that line. It’s so true.

A few months ago while driving back from the city with Nick, something tremendous happened. I’d like to share with you from my journal:

(5-5-11) As Nick and I were driving home from the city I had so many things going on inside me. We were laughing and talking and all of the sudden I was overcome by this feeling of love – Love for Nick, love for my family and friends, love for God. I was experiencing so much love – as if God was pulling back a curtain and showing me what a gift love was. I remember thinking what a privilege it was to have the opportunity to experience love on so many levels. I felt like I was in the 3D version of 1 Corinthians 13 where it ends with “and the greatest of these is love.” This surely was a true comprehension of what what it meant to love and be loved – being shown to me through my emotions, intellect, and spirit – all in one moment. It was much more than a human kind of love that is based on reciprocity but was an agape kind of love – unconditional and accepting (warts and all). I was at peace there in that state of “perfect love.” I felt no anxiety, anger or regret. I was seeing from a heavenly viewpoint into the natural world of what I was experiencing – supernaturally. I even remember saying, “Wow! How privileged am I to be allowed to choose to love on this earth. To experience love on so many dimensions“.Things looked so different in that moment.”

I have a good friend Marie who lost her husband last year to cancer. I’ve been able to spend a lot of time with her looking at pictures and hearing her stories of their life together. We talked last week of how it’s those little things, that we once thought annoyed us, that we actually remember in regard to those we’ve lost. It’s those things that we appreciate and wish we could experience with that person just one more time.

Yesterday, I received the news about a friend who just lost her young daughter (in her 30’s) and my heart is heavy. I cried for her all morning and don’t understand how this could have happened. My heart goes out to her and her family. And yeah, things weren’t perfect and there were issues that she wished she could have changed. But I’m sure she would give anything just to have one more moment to share with her precious baby girl.

In the end, these things that frustrate us on a daily basis are really just distractions that if allowed, can keep us from seeing how blessed we are to love and be loved in return.

I share this song for Marie.