The Will to Love

By the River Piedra I sat Down and Wept – a literary piece of Coehlo that spoke about love, perseverance, and the WILL to pursue and follow your dream. Inspired by a blogger friend, Joan bunch, when I read from her post some of its lines; I was encouraged to buy a copy. When I started reading it, I was fascinated for it speaks of the same love story as mine. With eyes half-opened, I tried to read and avoid some lines but I went through still, reading while hoping to find some answers for my aching heart.

True love is a selfless act of total surrender; something that is hard to do but can be done. Something that can be done but we don’t really feel like doing for we view love differently.

Afraid of what might the thoughts of the book will lead me – a realization I always long for, at the same time, I fear. I don’t exactly know why God gave me Bien, perhaps to understand and actualize selfless love. But is there actually a selfless love? I once read that selfishness is sometimes the key to selflessness, although, until this point, I never get to contemplate over its meaning.

I am a no saint and I want to fight for what I believe is right but the other part of me says that not all our heart’s desires are right. It is ironic when believers like me would say ‘keep on praying and you will receive’, when God wants us to think the other way – ‘let HIS WILL be done, not ours’. We learn the power of prayers when we pray for the things we desire and we get the opposite but we gladly find peace and acceptance.

God’s will and ultimate commandment is to LOVE. It is never His will for us to be happy at the expense of others. He wants us to love Him and others with the best and honest intentions. He never wills us to hurt other people because we are given the gift of choice. In everything we do, we are given the freedom to choose and that’s where the gift of wisdom comes in.

“We know what we want to do but are AFRAID of hurting those around us by abandoning everything in order to pursue our dream. We do not realize that LOVE is something that will prevent us from going forward. We do not realize that those who genuinely love us want us to be happy and are prepared to accompany us on that journey”

“If we acknowledge God created us for HAPPINESS, then we have to assume that everything that leads to sadness and defeat is our own doing.”

I also believe that love is NOT an obstacle in achieving our dreams, rather a force urging the lovers to get the better of their dreams and thus find GOD.

As said in the book, there are no rules when it comes to love in the same way that there are no rules when it comes to worshipping God: “to love is to be in communion with the other and to discover in that other the spark of God.”

Then why fear in pursuing love, when we as children of God are taught to love in the first place?

“When we first begin fighting for our dream, we have no experience and make many mistakes. The secret of life, though, is to FALL seven times and to GET UP eight times.”

Failures should be considered as driving forces and challenges that will make us better persons. Failures aren’t bad, what’s more important is how we stand up and rise above the pains and trials.

Surely, Pilar’s lament at the river piedra will guide me on my search of true love and happiness. Thank you dear Joan for helping me find a book that seemingly captures my every thoughts and emotions.