Love Is a Gift To Be Given and Received

I love. Not always, but I love: my wife, my kids, my extended family. Those are unconditional loves, and I hope and believe they are two-way streets.

I used to think I loved my neighbor as myself. But after self-reflection following my return to sobriety, I'm not sure I was in  reality traveling that road. I was so in love with myself, I see now, that it was hard to love my neighbor as much.

Now that I have turned my life around and allowed God to turn my head around, I can see that I loved only if I felt loved. I gave lip service to love and it felt genuine. But I didn't know what I didn't know. Now my love is about God. God loves me, and His will is that I share His love with others. All others.
Surprisingly, I find that easy to do. I don't have to love people for their actions. But I love them because they were created by God the same as I was, and that kind of love now comes naturally.

Just as much as I love, I crave to be loved. When I feel God's love through others, it's a feeling I never used to have. It's a high far better than alcohol was. I am reading Defiant Joy by Stasi Eldredge (see the author's video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0Ry--wg1tw).She writes:

"We are honed both in our needing and in our being needed. Whether we are the ones experiencing whiplash or the ones walking beside those dealing with the aftereffects, there is joy and growth to be found in the giving and receiving of loving support."