Loving is worth it

Commentary

Many people have trusted me, during counseling, with their intimate lives, with the stories of their family. They suffered conflicts, confrontations, and heartache. It is a great truth that in every family crisis, a light is hidden. It is a light that shines on what has been lost and the steps that led to the abyss. However, it is a light that lies under the wreckage of what we are, and its cleanup stings greatly because it demands to prune our attitude and behavior. And, what lies inside that powerful “hidden” light of our heartache? Against popular belief, within it lays the discovery of “what should have been” to truly and adequately love one another. He who is ill discovers the worth and symptoms of the health he lost.

One understands that loving is the Life of living. That indulging in the steps that decimate love is to risk being dead in life. To love, without surrendering, carries an intimate joy that, as a fountain of “live water,” can gush out under any circumstance. Through the good and evil, in fortune or misfortune, in sickness or health, through the easy times and the difficulties. It brings forth the miracle of suffering without becoming bitter, sacrificing ourselves without getting discouraged, navigating the storms of life without losing hope, enduring without giving in, and having “a great joy” amid hardship, trouble, failures, and defects.

How can we explain, for example, the inner peace and freedom of a gravely ill husband and father, whose body is aching and his prognosis unclear, but despite it all summons the will to smile at his wife, at his children, to unburden their angst? How can we explain the never-failing hope of a mother, whose faithful, persistent, and steadfast love doesn´t wither when faced with the possibility of losing her son, perhaps trapped in alcoholism or drug addiction? ¿What about a parent´s hateless serenity and ability to fight without giving up when they face the brutal impact of having lost their job?

When it seems like everything is cracking on the outside, those who love each other “have one another.” And, that love is one of life´s principles: a fountain of joy, of hope and, faith that calms the turbulent waters and grants serenity to the depths of our souls. Those who love each other will never be defeated by anguish or the existential absurd. The joy of loving one another is worth every pain. In this regard, one of the first symptoms of love´s death is the loss of the “joy of loving each other.”

We still have time to avoid it! Let´s not waste it! To give one another, once more, the joy of loving each other is worth it. It´s worth every inconvenience. If their union of love radiates life, warmth and joy, it heats the home and brings every familial love to life.