Creating a Nest of Happiness Through True Love
Wisdom in Action centers on the words of Holy Mother Han, offering timeless guidance for women seeking to live with purpose and compassion. Through a featured quote or passage and a personal reflection, we explore how her teachings can be applied in everyday life and community.
“I love you.” These are the sweetest words. They are the first words, because through love all life begins. But human beings can speak these words either responsibly or irresponsibly. God also gave animals the power to multiply through love. Animals search for a partner with whom to bear and raise offspring. But they differ from us in that for them, love is instinctual and they are not responsible to make moral decisions related to love. For human beings, in contrast to animals, love is accompanied by responsibility. Love practiced with moral responsibility is what we call “true love.”
A husband and wife who believe in the sanctity of love and fulfill their responsibility accordingly are practicing true love. Through their love, God creates a nest of happiness… True love is the most important factor in creating a happy family. (Mother of Peace, Ch 8)
Reflection:
The other day I was minding my own business in the kitchen when all of a sudden, to my surprise, through the window I spotted two squirrels mating! I thought to myself, “it’s the dead of winter, why in the world are these squirrels already ‘getting busy’ when it isn’t even spring?!” Well, I Googled it and it is true that in the Northeast, grey squirrels have two mating seasons, one in mid-winter and another in mid-spring. Who knew?
So why am I sharing this? Well, two reasons, 1) it challenges my perception that nature lies completely dormant during the winter and 2) it helps me reflect on the ideas presented on true love, as given by Mother Han’s words above.
Let me expand upon the second realization. In Mother Han’s text, some key ideas stand out to me, namely: “I love you” are first words, as they are the foundation for new life; the idea of creating a nest of happiness within a couple centered on true love; and the idea of believing in the sanctity of love- true love, which comes with a moral responsibility of fidelity, accommodation, and truly cherishing the other.
Some of us may feel challenged when we think about the premise Mother Han presents of true love. Maybe it feels unattainable, or that unconditional love is something you’ve only experienced in fairy tales or in the movies. Some of us may hold difficult feelings around the circumstances of our births, and that our homes were less than ideal in the sense of having true love present there. No matter the reason or the inadequacies or shortcomings we may feel in this area, it is not too late to have a genuine experience of true, unconditional love, and it begins with truly, unconditionally loving ourselves.
We have the capacity to tap into the greatest, overflowing fountain of love, tenderness and understanding which we all seek. It begins by first recognizing how loved we truly are by our Creator, who holds and embraces us as a Heavenly Mother would. We can love, because we have been uniquely and unabashedly loved by our divine Mother. Thus, we can create this nest of happiness that Mother Han is referring to- a place called home- where we can seek respite, nourishment, and loving comfort, and it begins by connecting with the true love of the first being, who loved us even before we were a thought in our own parents’ minds.
May you be the love and the peace which you seek this month!
If you’d like to explore more from Mother Han and the theme for this month, join us for HerTribe Online! Beginning Wednesday, February 18, at 8:30 PM (ET).