Love is when you look into someone’s eyes and suddenly you go all the way inside their soul and you both know it.  Unknown

I had to learn to see with the eyes of Love. My father was my greatest teacher. I struggled with my relationship with my father for years. He drank and smoked and cursed life until the day he died; he always needed to be right and have the last word. He was also generous and smart and funny and could tell a story like no one else. Growing up in his presence was not easy but neither was it without some amazingly wonderful times and experiences. But when I started my spiritual journey I needed distance from my whole growing up, so I didn’t speak to him very often. Instead I kept trying to see him as a child of Life and trying to love him from afar.

Then one day I realized that my father acted and loved in the only way he knew how. I began to understand his struggle as an immigrant to the U.S. and his deep desire to care for his family. I discovered a place of compassion within me that allowed me to see his pain, fear, and deep disconnection—and I found those same places within myself. We weren’t so different.

In that moment when I began to see him with the eyes of Love, I could see the truth of who he was. Did this miraculously change him? No. But it changed me. I no longer needed him to be anyone different. Over time our relationship strengthened and softened. I became grateful for all he’d contributed to my life and the ways he’d tried to love me. When I sat by his deathbed, I knew he was returning to the heart of Love. I’m so grateful that I didn’t miss out on the Love he came here to be.

Spiritual Contemplation: Who would benefit from you seeing them through the eyes of love? Can you see that they were or are doing the best they can?

Affirmation: I see everyone from my past with the Loving eyes of Spirit. I know each person is a unique and precious expression of the One Presence.