Unconditional Love

Jacquie Here.

Happy Valentine's Day! I have a message for you that I feel is perfectly appropriate for today's universal theme of L.O.V.E. And that message has to do with Unconditional Love.

Sunday night, I went to a fireside (If you don't know what I'm talking about, a fireside is like a large religious group devotional typically held on Sunday evenings in our church) that was exclusively for the women of the church. Also known as the Relief Society Sisters. The members of the Stake Relief Society Presidency came and spoke to us and it was wonderful and uplifting, as all Relief Society gatherings are. :) One sister (Wish I could remember her name) spoke on Unconditional Love. We're not necessarily talking about romantic love here, we're talking about Unconditional Love between very close friends and loved ones.

Now let's define unconditional love, shall we? Wiki helped me out with this one:

"Unconditional love is a term that means to love someone regardless of the loved one's qualities or actions. The paradigm of unconditional love is a mother's love for her newborn. Unconditional love is often used to describe the love in an idealized romantic relationship. It may sometimes also be used to describe love between family members, comrades in arms, and between others in highly committed relationships."

Unconditional Love is the kind of love that can never be shaken. The kind of love that you can feel for your brother, your child, your spouse, your neighbor, your teacher, your parent... All in the same way. The kind of love that doesn't ever falter, regardless of the choices people make, or the things they say. The kind of love that you feel when you know that you would stand by someone always - no matter what. Unconditional Love can be obtained immediately, or over a long period of time. Unconditional Love never leaves. Once it's there, it's staying there. Unconditional Love is not lustful. It is pure and humble. It is sacred and selfless. It is eternal.

The speaker went on to list people in her life who love her unconditionally. She talked about how when you are in a relationship of Unconditional Love with anyone, you could go days, months, years, decades and not see each other, but that when you are reunited, it's as if you were never apart. Because Unconditional Love never fades. She also pointed out that Unconditional Love is reciprocal (there are few exceptions). She said that everyone on her list of people who love her unconditionally, she has the same Unconditional Love for them. When one person loves someone unconditionally, that someone cannot help but feel the same Unconditional Love in return. The feeling is mutual.

Then she incorporated the spiritual underlining to this all - Whether your list of people who love you unconditionally is long or only has a few special people on it, there is one person who is on all of our lists, even if we don't know it: The Savior. He loves us unconditionally. He has the purest kind of love for us. He loves us so much that He gave His life for us. He loves us whether or not we love Him in return. "He loved [us] even before [we] were created, he loves [us] right now, and he'll love [us] for all eternity." He loves us with all of our faults and shortcomings. He loves us whether we're short, tall, black, or white. He loves us whether we have lots of money, or none. He loves us whether we have many friends and loved ones, or are alone. He has Unconditional Love for us. So much so, that He has promised to be our advocate to the Father at our Judgment. So much so that He knows us all by name and wants us to have all the happiness in the world. And how can we not feel warm and cozy thinking about that?

So I've spent some time pondering on the people who I love and who love me unconditionally and this is what I came up with (In no particular order):
- Jesus Christ
- My family
- Magnolia Romero (the entire Romero family...)
- The Merrill Family
- My roommate Jordan Walls
- Hudson Halm
- Gus Romero
- Kylee Buchanan
- Brad Fox
- Linda Crandall
- Clayton Reidhead
- Amanda Auwen
- Daniel Mellor
- Autumn Dark
And I'm sure there are many, many more. These are just the people who stood out in my mind at the time as people who I KNOW without a shadow of a doubt can look past all of my impurities and love me unconditionally. And I'm a little surprised, actually, at some of the people who made it on the list. Haha. I could tell you why there is Unconditional Love between each individual one of these people and myself, but that would take days. But all of these people, I know, will love me forever and will love me no matter what. All of these people are special to me in one way or another. All of these people I plan to be a part of my life forever. And I, in return, love all of them no matter what and always will. They are my truest true friends. :)

Who do you have Unconditional Love for? Share with us.

Again, Happy Valentine's Day!
I love you.

Out,
Jacquie.