Love has no agenda …

Some people live as though life is a scientific coincidence or accident. I believe in science. I believe God to be a scientist. I also believe Him to be a masterful artist and a mystic, the creator and the force behind everything good.

I believe God to be love.

Life without that belief is empty, at least emptier than I want my life to be. You could argue (and I have) that I believe because I want to, because I can’t bear the thought of an empty or accidental existence. But I have evidence. It is both everywhere and nowhere, tangible and intangible.

Einstein said, “There are two ways to live your life — one is as though nothing is a miracle, the other is as though everything is a miracle.”

This morning as I jogged, I got caught in the rain … and loved it! I raised my arms in surrender to the heavens; and rather than feeling like a prisoner, I felt like a freed bird!
The forces of nature are the forces of God. Dare to run with them. Dance with them. Sing with them. Cry with them. Be still with them. And they will make a believer of you!… More

We hide what we fear will be rejected, and present what we hope will win approval. We may create a beautiful facade, but we know that’s what it is. We still long to be known and loved for who we really are.

And when we find the courage to let go of the acceptable, we unveil the sacred.

We were always lovable.… More

If we teach children to love some people and not others, we teach them to love conditionally. In other words, we don’t really teach them to love at all.

If we teach children to know and love themselves just the way they are, we teach them to love everybody that way.… More

When 50 percent of marriages end in divorce, 75 percent of divorcees remarry, 65 percent of their marriages include children from another marriage and 60 percent of those marriages end in divorce, can there be anything traditional left about the “traditional family”?

As my husband and I were introduced to exes, stepparents and stepsiblings at a party, we found ourselves trying to put the puzzle together…and pieces of it were ours.

We’re creating new traditions. We have more working moms and fewer children, but baby sisters and big brothers no longer have to be birthed or adopted. They can be married into.

Some studies show that children from divorced families have more social and emotional problems than those from intact families. But surely children from divorced families who become part of healthy families can have fewer social and emotional problems than children who remain in unhealthy intact families?

We’d do better to make loving — rather than staying together or divorcing — the tradition. And if we make loving the tradition before getting married (the first time), we’re bound to have fewer divorces and stronger families.

We must start where we are, though. For some of us, it is too late to marry for love the first time.… More

If you’re not living the happy ending yet, take heart. Your story’s not over. Enjoy every “now.”… More

The Reward Theory of Attraction says we are most attracted to those who give us maximum rewards at minimum cost to us! And four of the most compelling sources of reward are:

Proximity: Frequent contact predicts closeness.
Similarity: Shared attitudes, interests, values and experiences are rewarding.
Self-disclosure: Intimate sharing builds trust and allows us to know each other.
Physical attractiveness: We find beauty rewarding.

But the Expectancy-Value Theory says we weigh the value of the reward against our expectation of success in a relationship.

My theory, then, is that when we’re ready to manifest our true value, we’ll go for what we really want in a partner, knowing that we’ll be successful. … More