Love is Everywhere

I'm pretty sure everyone knows this, but I see hearts or the word "love" every day. Most of the images I post on my Instagram feed, but not all of them. As we start this year, it has me thinking about what that means, that I see love everywhere.

Here’s something else that's interesting: I only see hearts and love when I'm not looking. You know how people say you find love when you stop looking? For me, that's literal. What this means to me is love is everywhere. Love is all around us all the time. Love can be found in a planter, in a rock, a piece of bark. Love is not restricted or isolated. Seeing hearts every day reminds me of that. Even in the midst of the worst pain, love is there. Even in the midst of ecstatic bliss, love is there.

I took both of these pictures. I found the blue fuzz on my sock just like this -- no arranging from me.

I'm pretty sure I've written about this before, but one of the things I love about my spiritual practice is its all-encompassing nature. God is everywhere and everything. There is no separation. God is both love and fear, light and dark. It's not possible for some things to be God and others not to be because everything, everything is made of God-stuff. God to me is love, so that means love is everywhere and everything. Sometimes it's hiding though. Sometimes we don’t notice it, but that doesn't mean love is absent.

As we go into this New Year, it's my wish that more and more people wake up to the fact love is everywhere. It's my wish that more and more people see love or hearts every day as a reminder that love is omnipresent, because it is. Seriously, if I see love or hearts all the time, how could it not be? I'm seeing love in a concrete form, but love is even more present in the abstract. It's the way a mother smiles at her baby. It's the way a stranger holds open a door. It's the way a friend shares her vulnerability. It's the way Komal Ahmad created an app, Feeding Forward, to feed the homeless by allowing companies and event planners to donate their surplus food to those in need within their area.

This New Year I'm asking you to see love. And I promise, the more you see love, the more love there is to see. Because really, love is everywhere.

I dream of a world where we recognize love is everywhere. A world where we constantly see love's presence. A world where we understand just because we may not see love at the moment doesn't mean love ceases to exist. A world where we know love is omnipresent.

Another world is not only possible, it's probable.