Love And Acceptance

Love And Acceptance

By Eileen Renders                            October 25, 2023

   Love is gazing at a newborn baby, playing hide and seek with your dog, walking down the church aisle with your soon-to-be spouse. Love is a commitment and a responsibility that has no contract ending date. Love is acceptance.

   We are accepting one as they are, without conditions and without the requirement for changing. Understanding that we are all imperfect, acceptance means we will accept one another’s faults as they have accepted our faults.

   Love and acceptance then join together as two people merge into one. Love and acceptance require tolerance of forgetfulness, tardiness, or whatever trivial fault we must deal with. It is embracing our loved ones for their uniqueness and focusing on the qualities that drew us to that individual. God is love, and He said; “Love thy neighbor as thy self.” God loves us in an unconditional way. And when we are sorry for offending Him, He forgives us our sins through the sacrament of Reconciliation.  

   Whenever we are unable to accept someone as they are, and with their faults or incompatible habits, we must let them go. There may have been some parts of their personality, or talents that attracted you, yet other areas of their personality that you did not like and it may have even bothered you to spend too much time with them. We all deserve to seek and find that special person who is not asking for change to accept them. Rather than putting up a farce in pretending one is satisfied with another as a partner, or best friend when that is not one’s true feelings, the mature and kind thing to do is to let go. This would be the honest and kind thing to do.

   Hopefully, this type of rejection should not trigger guilt, embarrassment, or fear. Life is not always easy, it is a journey and requires us to live it with honesty, maturity, and kindness. Relationships are more difficult than a lot of other things in life that are required of us, yet they are also a learning ground and can help each of us to grow healthily.