Love is a Verb<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When I was a little boy my mother used to sit down with me a few days before Valentine's Day and help me make up my list of classmates. She told me it was\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/2014\/02\/love-is-a-verb\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Love is a Verb\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When I was a little boy my mother used to sit down with me a few days before Valentine's Day and help me make up my list of classmates. She told me it was\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/2014\/02\/love-is-a-verb\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Principles of Spiritual Living\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-02-10T19:10:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-02-10T19:18:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/files\/2014\/02\/love-inspirational-daily-300x225.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kenn Gordon\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kenn Gordon\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/2014\/02\/love-is-a-verb\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/2014\/02\/love-is-a-verb\/\",\"name\":\"Love is a Verb\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-02-10T19:10:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-02-10T19:18:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/#\/schema\/person\/720c26c309bea6c61701192a88b8340c\"},\"description\":\"When I was a little boy my mother used to sit down with me a few days before Valentine's Day and help me make up my list of classmates. 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{"id":604,"date":"2014-02-10T12:10:52","date_gmt":"2014-02-10T19:10:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/?p=604"},"modified":"2014-02-10T12:18:34","modified_gmt":"2014-02-10T19:18:34","slug":"love-is-a-verb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/2014\/02\/love-is-a-verb\/","title":{"rendered":"Love is a Verb"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

When I was a little boy my mother used to sit down with me a few days before Valentine\u2019s Day and help me make up my list of classmates.
\nShe told me it was very important that I not leave anyone out, because everyone was deserving of love and there was no limit on it. \u00a0 $\"\"$ <\/a>
\nThose were wise words, but I dreaded Valentine\u2019s Day regardless. Each year it was easier to fear the cards I may not receive than embrace the ones I did. \u00a0And it never occurred to me that perhaps that particular classmate didn\u2019t have money to make or buy the cards, or a parent who would help them. What I saw instead, if I wasn\u2019t included, was the absence of the valentine rather than all the others that were coming in.<\/p>\n

How often is that true of us when we\u2019re looking for love \u2013 we fail to recognize what is already there.<\/p>\n

What the valentine does demonstrate is that love is an action \u2013 and when we recognize and acknowledge that love coming in to us, we are filled with it.\u00a0The opposite of love isn\u2019t hatred \u2013 it\u2019s indifference. It\u2019s that failure in us to both give and receive.<\/p>\n

When we use that kind of energy in our daily interactions it\u2019s no wonder that we may fail to receive the love that we would like to have.\u00a0Love has to be clean. It comes with no agenda \u2013 just a purity of spirit. Begin first with love, and then see how things unfold.\u00a0The alternative is to withhold \u2013 and that is a certain path to conflict.<\/p>\n

So this Valentine\u2019s Day think of someone who perhaps you have been in conflict with, or distant from, or simply haven\u2019t got around to talking to for a while.
\nTake the time \u2013 the loving action if you will \u2013 to send them a personal note. Let them know you\u2019re thinking of them. It doesn\u2019t have to be profound. The intention \u2013 the action \u2013 that you take is what will resonate. And as you continue down the path to expressing more love in your life \u2013 it will come back to you, pressed down and overflowing.
\nAs Ernest Holmes said: \u201cthe world has learned enough through suffering and punishment.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"