Blog

LOVE

by Lynn K. Russell

written for Mystic Order of the White Rose Newsletter

August 1, 2020

Today, for some, the word love has lost it is meaning. We love objects, places, complete strangers make love, and we depend on love to fill us up. We throw the word around like a hot rock, and I am as guilty as anyone. Perhaps like something and cannot find a strong enough word to express that, and so we say ‘love.’

Fair enough. So, what is love? It is a strong feeling we have toward others, nature, and creatures therein. We want to be near or with that which we love as much as possible. This includes hiking in the wilds and stopping to wrap ourselves up in the fresh air and wilderness. At least, that is what it is at this physical existence. This love is so strong that we feel at one with the other, and it pains us to be apart. But the love I want to talk about is spiritual.

Spiritually, love takes on totally different dimensions from physical devotion. Repeatedly, people who have experienced death and returned, rave about the overwhelming love they felt. We are told it filled every crevice […]

Events that exist in memory wander through my mind. In my advanced years, the stories stack up like discarded newspapers reaching to the ceiling. One episode protrudes from the pile and brings belly-shaking laughter as my thoughts travel back to the 1950s and my teens.

“Stop squirming and turn around,” my sister, Susan, scolded as she dressed our cousin, Babe, for an illegal date.

“I don’t know if this is such a good idea,” Babe’s worried voice said.

“Oh, it’ll be fine. No one will know,” Susan assured her in a stage whisper.

We were in the bedroom, my sister and I shared. Our beds and dressers shoved against the walls left the middle open for their antics. With interest, I watched as Susan took control of the situation as though she knew what she was doing. At fifteen, neither girl was allowed to go on dates with boys in cars. That privilege was reserved until they were sixteen and not a day before. Nor were they allowed to attend house parties without our parents knowing where, when, with whom, plus they wanted to speak to the adults that would chaperone. Still, the tingle of rebellion quivered through the girls as they prematurely testing that freedom. Nothing short of our […]