Martin Luther King, Sr. died in 1984. During his life, he saw his wife and famous son shot down. Another of his sons drowned. Yet, this preacher’s message remained one of love and forgiveness: “I speak to my people about what it means to love. We have to rid ourselves of every ounce of hate. We cannot afford it. I know what that leads to.”

Jesus said that the second most important commandment after loving God was that we love one another. Love holds not only relationships but whole civilizations together. Love is the life source, the energy of your spirit.

“It is this intangible thing, love,” said Karl Menninger, “love in many forms, which enters into every therapeutic relationship. It is an element which finds and heals, which comforts and restores, which works what we have to call for now – miracles.”

Most look for love in others and in things. Love does not come from the outside in. It comes from being one’s true self – from the inside out. It is a power as well as a process, the only sanity. A world in love is a world at peace. I believe that our true purpose is to learn to love, and the only way to receive love is to love. And let’s not forget that we are fashioned and shaped by what we love.

What you give out comes back.

A young boy, having been strongly disciplined by his father, shouted, “I hate you!” and ran outside.
He ran to a nearby hill. In his anger he yelled out again, “I hate you! I hate you!”
He was startled when a voice answered back, “I hate you! I hate you!” It frightened him, and he dashed back into the house.
“Dad,” he cried, “There’s a mean person outside who said, ‘I hate you!’ Did you hear him?”
“Yes,” the father answered. “I did.” He led the boy back out to the hill. “Call out again,” he instructed, “but this time say, ‘I love you.’”
The mysterious voice echoed back faintly: “I love you, I love you.”
“That the way life is, Son. What you give life, it will return to you. Treat others the way you’d like to be treated.”