Love

/ moragnoffke

What is the greatest gift someone could give you?

The greatest gift I was ever given was the gift of love. To be taught what love truly is, how important it is, to others and to oneself and how to receive love and show love.

I am not so much, talking about romantic love but the love of a friend, family member, student /mentor, companion, guests / hosts and lastly the love we have for ourselves.

Love is modled to us through many people: hopefully like our mothers, parents and caregivers. Sometimes life goes a wry and we don’t learn those precious lessons of love. And in my case it was a bit like I needed reprogramming as an adult to learn it’s true value.

Love is practical, 
it is full of mercy, 
compassion and kindness.

Love is reflecting back what is witnessed, 
it is affirming and reassuring. 

Love is strong, has firm boundaries and respect.

Love is unconditional positive regard,
love listens without prejudice and with empathy.

Love teaches with respect and patience, 
with clarity and boldness. 

Love is brave and has courage to speak the truth in gently. 

Love sees the good, 
the potential and the gold, however well hidden, 
however many black moods 
however tarnished we may feel.

Love embraces all energies
 with acceptance, 
unconditionally.

Love enjoys growth 
and wants the best for us.

And finally I learned to love myself the same way. I looked in the mirror and I saw myself looking back; not an enemy, but with all my energies, possibly a beautiful but broken woman deserving of love, respect and support; of kindness, compassion, positive regard, and mercy. Deserving of making plans and dreaming big, daring to believe and having the courage to take bold steps. And I can see love and receive it as well as give it, passing it on in gratitude.

That’s the gift I was given, a gift I wear around my neck with joy. If you see it sparkling, receive it.

Wishing you all the sparkle in the world. Pass it on.

-Morag Noffke

53 thoughts on “Love”

    • Thank you, I appreciate your comment. The painting is of a Swarovski crystal love birds my husband gave me one wedding anniversary. It kinda reminds me of our family, us and our 2 daughters who were still with us at the time. So it has a lot of meaning for me.

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  8. I agree. Experiencing selfless, compassionate, unconditional love is life changing. And it doesn’t have to be seen in large, dramatic ways. It is experienced in small kindnesses, interested listening, being there in the good times and the bad …

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  9. A lovely reflection to savor and perhaps challenge our writing group to ponder and write about.  I would add two thjings….one I heard yesterday, “you love order, work on that more each day to create that for “yourself.” and what I now know …love never ends. Thank you, dear friend, for this, from the heart writing. You are a gift….Love, Sharon.

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    • Dear Sharon, thank you for your kind words, what a wonderful response. To treasure your words. I would be delighted if you share it with the writing group to ponder the write about and I value your additional thoughts… I look forward to hearing more. Much love, Morag.

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  10. There are still single sentences, which I tried to translate:
    “Love ist brave and hast courage to speak the truth gently.”
    “Liebe ist tapfer und mutig, um die Wahrheit zartfuhlend* zu sagen” oder: *liebevoll, herzlich, freundlich, milde, gütig

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    • Wow I think you are doing an amazing job…
      It’s amazing how different languages have slite differences in meaning.
      And what about the word… Vorsichtig… Sacht… Sanftmutig…
      I think liebevoll could work because I think that means lovingly or full of love.
      I am not sure because I don’t speak German… I learned Afrikaans which is often closer to Nederlands. I wish I could help more, I am even trying to think of someone I know who speaks both German and English. Let me know how you get on.

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  11. “Love sees the good, the potential and the gold, however Hidden.”
    “Liebe sieht im anderen das Gute, die Möglichkeiten und das Gold, wie versteckt auch immer.”
    Das kann man aber auch noch schöner sagen, etwas “deutscher”. Aber das ist nicht ganz einfach.

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    • I am not sure what the German means… so I could maybe explain more about what I mean?
      Love sees the good,
      the potential (all the things that could be… Like treasure that is not yet seen = Das potenzial) and the gold, however well hidden,
      however many black moods (all the black moods =depression, anger, anxt)
      however tarnished we may feel (how much we feel affected by values and principles that drag us down or make us feel dirty )
      Love still sees the good anyway…

      I don’t know if that helps at all 😅

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  12. What an ode to love! I resonate with every word of yours in this post. Love is divine. A pure love has the beginning, but no end. The best gift one can give, I think, is to give time, and time can only be given to one, you love.💖💐🙏

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  18. I was watching a YouTube by a food reviewer that I follow. He went to a cafe in the east end of London and said that the greeting that everyone got, whether it was your first visit or your hundredth, was like you was an old friend. I just thought, why can’t we all be like that. No conditions, no expectations, just love.

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