"It is one thing for someone to know that they are loved but it is another thing for them to feel it!" -Deborah M. Martin
I feel like I've touched on this before, but I think it deserves mentioning again, because it is the crux of a lot of issues in relationships. So often we can hear the words "I love you" and see someone's actions or receive the gifts, but it is a completely different thing to feel that love in your heart and truly accept it as your reality. As I've quoted before, "the longest trip a person takes is from head to heart" (Fred Craddock).
I once heard someone share a story of a young orphan who was was attacked. A man defended the child and took him into his home. He cared for him and fed him until he was better. He told the boy that he wanted to adopt him and make him his son. The boy was excited, but then he frowned. The man asked what was wrong, and the boy said, I was just wondering how I will eat and where I'll get clothes and the like. The man said, do you really think I would take you into my home and call you my son but not feed you and make sure that you are taken care of? That's what a father does.
This little boy saw the outward signs and heard the words, but he didn't apply it to himself and his reality. He was still thinking as an unloved, orphan when he was in the presence and protection of a man who wanted to be (and even acted like) his father. And in relationships in general, we can see and hear that we are loved, but the conscious knowledge and the full acceptance/embracing can be two different things.
I think a lot of this has to do with how we feel about ourselves and our willingness/ability to receive love. If we don't think ourselves worthy of love, it will be harder to feel love, even when it is lavished on us. So take some time and listen to the messages that you tell yourself and that you receive from other people (past and present). Are any of them hindering your ability to receive love? If so, begin counteracting them and speak positive truth to yourself. You deserve healing and love, so you can actually feel the love and not just know it's there.
I once heard someone share a story of a young orphan who was was attacked. A man defended the child and took him into his home. He cared for him and fed him until he was better. He told the boy that he wanted to adopt him and make him his son. The boy was excited, but then he frowned. The man asked what was wrong, and the boy said, I was just wondering how I will eat and where I'll get clothes and the like. The man said, do you really think I would take you into my home and call you my son but not feed you and make sure that you are taken care of? That's what a father does.
This little boy saw the outward signs and heard the words, but he didn't apply it to himself and his reality. He was still thinking as an unloved, orphan when he was in the presence and protection of a man who wanted to be (and even acted like) his father. And in relationships in general, we can see and hear that we are loved, but the conscious knowledge and the full acceptance/embracing can be two different things.
I think a lot of this has to do with how we feel about ourselves and our willingness/ability to receive love. If we don't think ourselves worthy of love, it will be harder to feel love, even when it is lavished on us. So take some time and listen to the messages that you tell yourself and that you receive from other people (past and present). Are any of them hindering your ability to receive love? If so, begin counteracting them and speak positive truth to yourself. You deserve healing and love, so you can actually feel the love and not just know it's there.
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