In our family...

In our family....we do second chances...we do grace...we do real...we do mistakes...we do I'm sorry (and I forgive you)...we do loud really well...we do hugs...we do family...we do love.















Thursday, February 12, 2009

What Love Got To Do With It?

Love is a beautiful thing when it fill up your life. But, ask someone that doesn’t live with love in their life, and it’s very likely they would not describe it as beautiful. I am not talking about romantic or sensual love …I am talking about basic love but I do believe that other kinds of love are born from it. Love can be a strong emotion or feeling and it encompasses so much more than one word. Love, at it’s best, is unconditional and equals forgiveness, kindness, sacrifice, empathy, affirmation, understanding, commitment and caring. Love that is unconditional is affection with no limits or conditions. In a perfect world, this kind of love would fill it and there would be no room for hate.


Mother Theresa once said “The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than hunger for bread.” We all hunger for love. When babies are born, their need for love and the affection that comes along with it, is as great as their need for food. We are born with a need for love and it’s expression… human touch and contact. When those needs go unmet, we suffer. It is a proven fact that infant’s whom don’t get this hunger met, suffer and some even die. Love hungry babies that grow up without love and all that it equates, grow up to be love hungry adults. The hunger of this kind, doesn’t just go away…we remain empty.


Like the post I wrote in January, The Love Bucket, I believe that each one of us has a bucket inside of us. I believe that these buckets are our “base” or foundation from which we grow to know or form our value and worth as human beings. When our buckets are full, we have something to give to other’s and to ourselves. When our buckets are empty, we have nothing to give anyone, let alone ourselves. The French write Stendhal described it by saying “Love is a well from which we can drink only as much as we have put in.”

Some of us start out with our buckets getting filled up right from the beginning, and kept getting our buckets filled up along the way. Some of us, not so much. Some of us, grew up hungry for love, even though we might not have recognized our need, and have taken our journeys with empty buckets. Some of us, fall somewhere between these two. Regardless, it’s never too late to start filling up your love bucket. I know this, because it wasn’t too late for me and it changed my life.

So, in answer to the question, “What’s love got to do with it?”, I say “Everything. Love has got everything to do with it."

How full is your love bucket? What do you do to fill up your bucket?


This is my spin on love. Check out Sprite's Keeper for more love spin's.

20 comments:

David said...

Interesting and thought provoking post. I always believed in the simple hierarchy that has a base of our basic needs: Live- we need food, air, and water just to get to the next level which of course is Love.
We do have a bucket that craves it,and looks for it from the time we open our eyes as babies. It is not so far up the hierarchy from love as we think. The touch and contact from "love" is much different from a physical touch.

Sprite's Keeper said...

This message resonates with me deeply. I hope my bucket always stays full and my husband and I raise our daughter to act with love and regard others with compassion. Very nicely put. You're linked and welcome to the Spin Cycle!

Busy Bee Suz said...

This is such a great post...and 2 in a row about love? This is a good sign from YOU. :)
My love bucket runneth over. I am a very blessed person. I am surrounded by love in all directions....a very lucky girl.
I agree, that babies need it from day one. I think that neglecting a child from love is the worst of all abuses.

Anonymous said...

It is hard to use the bucket as a reference, but sometimes I feel like I am carrying around and empty bucket. It might be empty because I keep a lid on mine, or there is no one placing stuff in it...I really can't tell. Sometimes I like filling up other buckets, but I don't like people putting stuff in mine...I can't explain it and really don't mean to bring down the room. It can be hard to accept love sometimes too.

Kathryn Magendie said...

What a post to get me to thinking! I think sometimes I cover my bucket so things can't get in -- I need to stop doing that! *smiling*

Debbie said...

And I think some of us are careless with our buckets and spill them. Excellent post.

SciFi Dad said...

Great post.

My bucket is overflowing, or at least it will be when everyone gets here (MTM, Munchkin, Buddy) for lunch today.

Anonymous said...

Thanks once again for giving me something to think about. My bucket is full today...I hope to keep it that way!

Real Live Lesbian said...

I never knew how full my bucket was growing up. Too much strife. But it was always full. And I'm so grateful now that it's full AND I know it!

Great post!

Smart Mouth Broad said...

Great spin and so true. You have such a big heart for the hurting. Thankfully my love bucket is full. It's the other buckets in my life that are lacking. If given the choice, I would have it no other way.

Laufa said...

Love bucket, I like that. I need to work on filling mine a little more. Thanks!

Unknown said...

I absolutely love your love bucket story. I don't think I ever, EVER, had any love bucket deposits when I was growing up. Probably explains why I'm on my 4th (and last) marriage. I never believed the other 3 actually loved me. How could they? My own MOTHER never loved me, right? Thank God for therapy....

and thank God for people and mothers like you. You are too wonderful for words.

Anonymous said...

Like you, my bucket has been both overflowing and dry as a bone. Through the years I have come to realize that it's up to me how full my bucket is because it's in exact proportion to how much time and effort I put into filling the buckets of others. You worded this so well. Here's to your full bucket!

Vodka Mom said...

That was a great post......

Midlife, menopause, mistakes and random stuff... said...

How very beautiful this post is. Love has E~V~E~R~Y~T~H~I~N~G to do with it right? Afterall, every little thing in the world wants to be loved.
Find true love.....keep the faith..
is my motto!
Happy Valentine's Day and....

Steady On
Reggie Girl

♥ Braja said...

Nice post, Smiles :)

Time with friends does it for me....

Unknown said...

Very beautiful post. I loved your love bucket post in January. I love the 5 love languages book. Have you read those? I think mine is acts of kindess. They just melt my heart like nobody's business. I hope you have a wonderful date tonight. What movie are you going to see?

Kathryn Magendie said...

I hope this isn't a bad pain day....*hug* ...

Anonymous said...

I smile everyday and listen to the people who are talking to me. Love is a basic connection with people. Every conversation that connects is a drop in my bucket.

Unknown said...

reading here helps. taking chances is a must. looking beyond my own self.

your world is so full of love. just the little people alone!