Love

I've been reading Kahlil Gibrand's "The Prophet" over the past few days. One sentence has really struck me, and put into perspective the direction I want my life to go.

Work is love made visible.

Five words that encapuslate, in my view, a perfect philosophy. It is so easily applied to everyday activities in life. Why do I go to my job every day? To provide for my family. Do I enjoy every second of my work or find ultimate existential meaning from it? No, but I love my family, and I want to give them all I have, and so I work at my job to make their lives better.

Why do I make myself crazy for Evelyn's birthday parties or Halloween costumes? Because time is my limited resources, and by putting it into something just for her, I show my love. Work is love made visible.

It is obvious how this philosphy applies to family and friends, but I've been contemplating how I apply it to myself. Jon and I joke that we are really lazy, and that everything we do revolves around that laziness. We are only half joking, though. We are not lazy at our jobs or in our relationships with our families. We are lazy, I think, in taking care of ourselves.

But do we not love ourselves? Shouldn't we WORK to show love to ourselves? Of course we should.

I love myself. I am the only self I get. It has to last me until I am very old, and it has to get me there in one piece. I need my self to provide a roof over my daughter's head and comfort to my husband's soul. I need my self to tend to the ills of the world and improve the lot of others. I need my self. Period. I do not exist without it, and the people in my life would be worse off without it.

This may sound all very la-dee-da philosophizing navel-gazing, but I have a point. If I work hard and work often to show my love to the people in my life that I cherish most, why am I not on that list? Why do I think doing something to preserve my body or my mind is "selfish" or "worthless" or "too hard?" I get up and go to work every morning, whether I'm in the mood or not, so why not get up every morning and cook myself a healthy breakfast, whether I'm in the mood or not? Taking the time to care for myself, making the effort, WORKING, is a way to make the love for my self visible.

Work is love made visible.

Five words that may change my life.