In the midst of the star-studded heavens there is a polar star around which all others appear to revolve. Fixed and unchanging, it is a beacon in the night, an anchor in an ocean of chaos, a source of strength for the weary traveler and a guiding light for the wayward soul. It is the North Star, and it is a metaphor for love.
Love is the joy for which all souls long, the healing balm without which so many would be forever lost. It is the starving man giving his last piece of bread to a child, the mother caring for her infant son. It is the innocent man laying down his life for his friends, the woman reaching out with compassion to help a lost traveler find her way home, the husband and wife reconciling their differences. It is the only hope for peace in this world, the only salve for the broken heart.
To choose to live without love-–for it is always a choice-–and find it again is to return home, to once again feel raindrops on the drought-hardened soil of the heart, to finally satisfy a burning thirst.
For centuries explorers sought the Fountain of Youth and its power to grant immortality. Their searching was in vain, for one cannot find what does not exist. But there is a promise of immortality in the world beyond death. While this knowledge brings some comfort, it would be meaningless without eternal love, which is the only hereafter worth hoping for.
Life is patterned after the heavens: darkness and difficulty interspersed with the ever-present glowing lights of joy, anchored by a being whose name is Love. When every day is a struggle, when the world is at its bleakest, Love offers the strength and hope to press forward, to move from one star to the next, until the shadows are only memories and the dawn of eternity begins.
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