Spiritual Guidance:

The missing link in human evolution is love. When love points the way, it defines intention, behavior and motivation. It sees into the potential of life and clarifies existence and purpose.

Most of humanity is in a state of “human doing” stimulated by life’s revolving door of problems. Many are lost in ambition, working hard to defer need while providing the basic necessities. Frustrated by a narrow range of responses to the conditions from which they suffer, people work harder and harder with less and less, while experience chips away at their hopes and dreams.

Like a writer seeking to find his or her voice, people search for the “who-they- are” by defining the problems they encounter, thinking that a solution will lead them to a position from which they can see life’s potential. But the voice and the view are not found in problems. A solution cannot equalize your life, but love can. Unlike those who live in fear, watching their hopes and dreams disappear in a state of despair, lovers see their potential unfolding through the blessings of being alive. They are optimists because they see life as an opportunity to love who they are, what they do and why they’re here.

Lovers succeed at being alive because they are present in the moment — not in the problem. Life is their opportunity to perfect their skills, and they are heir to the creative genius of God’s love.

Can’t see it? Can’t feel it? Angry because you think opportunity passed you by? Want to know love? Here is the truth: Love is a choice, not a reaction. It is not a person, a place or a thing. Love is the initiative that forgives, the wisdom that informs, and the atmosphere of eternal gratitude for yet another day to live.

JIM TURRELL is the senior pastor at the Center for Spiritual Living.