Love is not the same as feeling good, content, pleased, satiated, praised, confident, envied, or secure. These are not love.
Love is a burning flame that strips away, chars, and annihilates. And yet it must be kindled or the precious flame of love goes out and all that is left is a shell.
Fear douses and freezes the fires of love. Lust and anger explode it and use up its fuel. Jealousy throws it out, leaving us with nothing. Laziness and complacency dim it and smother it. Avarice puts walls around love, hiding it from ourselves and others.
Dear God
Please teach me to love
how to love
with all my being
with all my force
help me to receive your grace
and the gifts you give
that in my blindness I
curse as suffering.
Dear God
Be with me.