Listen to Love..........

A young man walked into my
office one day. I'd not met
him before but he had called
for an appointment to see me.

When he arrived, I could tell
by the look on his face that
some major 'life issue' was
weighing heavy on his heart
and mind.

He sat down and immediate
told me, "Michael, my girlfriend
is pregnant. I don't know what
to do. I've attempted to talk
to my parents, my minister and
a therapist. All I've gotten is
lectures about having sex.
But whether or not having
sex outside of marriage is
right or wrong, well, that's
not my problem right now."

I told him that it doesn't take
rocket science intelligence
to know how he got where
he is. I told him, "Brian, the
thing you need to do is get
ready for a baby. You need
to start going to the baby
store or into the department
where baby clothes, cribs,
strollers, etc., are sold and start
getting ready for an amazing
miracle."

Brian broke down and a flood
of emotion started gushing
from his heart. All he could
say for the next several minutes
was, "Thank you, thank you,
thank you, thank you."

I learned something that day.
I learned that love has a voice.
It is a logical voice. It is a rational
voice. But more importantly,
it is a voice of the heart.

Love has a voice that isn't
interested in judging another
human being. Brian knew
how he got into the place
that he was in. There was no
'undoing' that. The only
thing left for him was, prepare
for a beautiful baby.

I saw Brian and Misty recently.
They now have 2 beautiful
children. They both came up
to me and hugged me. They'll
never forget. Neither will I.

When you choose to listen to
your heart, you know exactly
what to do even before a
'Brian' walks in to your life.
You realize how important it
is to listen to the voice of love.
You also realize how powerful
it is.

It was very humbling for me
to realize the power of what
happened THAT day. There
is a power in listening to
the inner voice of love that
is beyond my own ability.

Listening to the voice of
love has proven to be the
wisest and most sane thing
I've ever done in my life.

Choose to listen to the voice
of love. You'll walk away from
all of your 'life issues' having
done and made the right
choice.

I love you,
Michael

Love never fails.........

Anger comes to an end and leaves
devastation. Hatred will kill, steal and
destroy your life. Unforgiveness brings
sickness and dis-ease. Pride causes
the mighty to fall.

But........

Love, never fails.

It never has. It never will.

I love the Eagles. Timothy B. Smitt
sings an incredible song called, "Love
Will Keep Us Alive". When you hear
it, it resonates deeply in your heart.
Its truth is that 'love is powerful.'

My heart longs to both realize
(personally) and reveal to others
the importance of self love, God
love (agape) and 'others love.'

A great teacher said, "Study only
love." I would say that we should
be in constant pursuit of this,
THE most powerful expression
on earth.

My dear friend, love will never
fail you. You must know its
full expression and truly experience
it unconditionally. 'Conditional love'
is really not love at all.

Love that says, "I'll love you as
long as you love me", isn't real
love. That's only a contract.

Love that is chosen as a lifestyle
is real. It will not and cannot fail.

I shared with you recently that
God is love, you are one with
God, therefore, YOU are love.

Let this truth marinate your
heart, mind, soul and spirit.
Then, watch the power of
love transform your life and
your world.

Choose love. Its the only thing
that will never fail you.

With sincere avalanches
of love for you,

Michael

Mercy me....my prayer.....

Living here in the South, I've
heard this expression many, many
times.

I remember, as a little boy around
the age of 10 or 11, I came into
my grandma's house scared to
death. You see, there was a boy
named Jimmy who I had met on
the baseball field on the Crockett
Elementary School grounds.

I learned that Jimmy had just
been released from reform school.
That alone scared me. What
was worse, I said something that
made him mad at me. I don't have
a clue what I said, I just know that
he threatened to beat me up.

I was scared.

When I got to my Mama Murphy's
house, I told her that I had ran
almost the entire 3 blocks from
Crockett School. I explained to
her why and I remember that
all she said, over and over again
was, "Mercy me, mercy me,
mercy me."

I think it was her way of saying
a little prayer over me and for
the fear that I was feeling of
Jimmy beating me up.

That phrase has stuck with me
for the past 40 years. However,
today it has different meaning to
me than it did then.

'Mercy me' today, means me asking
for and showing forgiveness to
myself. It is a type of prayer of
divine and self forgiveness.

I'm allowing it to become more
than a simple expression of emotion.
I'm choosing to make it my prayer. A
prayer for forgiveness for myself.
A prayer that helps me to be much
easier on myself.

You too might want to try it.
Maybe a small thing. But small
things can have amazing results.

Much love and 'mercy' to you,
Michael

How you love..............

I've got a couple of
'guy' friends that I
like to hang out with.
We watch football or
basketball. Sometimes
we just talk (mainly
about women and sports
but not always in THAT
order).

One of my buddies is
Dr. Rick. He also
happens to be my
chiropractor. We
get together almost
every Friday for
several hours. We
support, encourage
and learn from each
other. We kind of do
a 'blending of the
brains'.

Dr. Rick and I really
do care about each
other. We're both
secure enough to
say, 'I love you, bro'
(we have to add the
'bro' part; we aren't
THAT secure, yet :-).

Another buddy of mine
is Bill. We're the same
way when we're
together.

I genuinely love both
of these guys. They
are amazing human
beings. Great souls.

Many years ago, I
was taught there are
different kinds of love.
As I shared with you
yesterday, I've now
come to the understanding
that there's only 'one
love.'

I was taught that there is
'eros' which is romantic
love. I was also taught
that there is 'phileo',
which is a brotherly
love (like I feel for
Dr. Rick and Bill and
several other 'guy'
friends of mine). Then
I was taught that there
is 'agape' which is the
spiritual, God-kind of
love.

I've come to the point
that I believe that
there is only 'one love.'
I believe that 'one love'
is 'agape'. I think eros
and phileo are expressions
of that one love.

The way I now see it,
there are different levels
and different expressions
of that one love.

Why would I make such
a big deal about this?

Well, this is where most of us
'guys' get confused. We
are afraid that if we
express love to another
guy that they are going to
take it wrong. We think
that they are going to
think 'eros' when in fact
we mean 'phileo'.

The ancient and true
proverb says that 'we
perish for a lack of
knowledge.' I hope to
clear up some of the
'lack of knowledge'
about love. We've
got to get to the place
that we can love each
other freely, guys and
gals. I think our existence
on this planet will require
it.

So, with that said,

'Bill, Dr. Rick, Bob, John,
Mike, Ralph, Larry, Gary,

"I love you, bro!" :-)

Monika, Patricia, Dorothy,
Mary, Lillianne, Clara,
Susie, Anita,

"I love you!" (.period)

Oh, and I want you to
know, YOU are more
than amazing! You
really are!

Michael