Love gives direction

“What am I going to do with my life?” How many times have I asked myself that? How many times has anybody asked themselves this question? (Because even people whose lives are established ask themselves this question… As one of my elderly friends put it, “I still don’t know what I want to do when I grow up!”) Do we ever receive an answer?

I think we do.

A few days ago I met one of my friends, and we briefly discussed together how we can know the will of God for our lives, and how we know that we’re doing the right thing. As he enumerated questions that found its echoes in my mind, I thought that all of this sounded too complicated to be on the right track. We all start out with good intentions: wanting to live up to everything God made us for; but what is it that can guide us to the point where we actually accomplish this?

As I was driving home that evening, I all of a sudden realized this: only love can give us direction. How many people have lived their lives aimlessly until they found someone to love, and then had all their plans fall into place? How many people have remained silent, until the fire for the love of God burned in them, and then they knew exactly how to hand over their whole lives to Him? How many of us think that life is meaningless, until one of our neighbours is in trouble and then we drop all the useless things we are doing to help this person wholeheartedly? We cannot find our way unless (and until) Love throws itself on our path. And we know that God is Love; He is too gracious to not show Himself to us, especially when we are looking for Him.

And we know when we have found our way, when our whole being is into what we do and we find ourselves (nourished) by it. A direction that leaves us drained is not a direction that has love. In fact, it is no direction at all. Only true Love gives us direction, because that’s the ultimate direction we were created for.

I am not the only one to say this…

“Put away the book, the description, the tradition, the authority, and take the journey of self-discovery. Love, and don’t be caught in opinions and ideas about what love is or should be. When you love, everything will come right. Love has its own action. Love, and you will know the blessings of it. Keep away from the authority who tells you what love is and what it is not. No authority knows and he who knows cannot tell. Love, and there is understanding.” -Jiddu Krishnamurthy (1895-1986), Indian philosopher