Loving relationships reflect the love of the empowered soul. One of the greatest loves we know in this world is that of the parent for a child. If we were lucky enough to experience the love of our parents, we may recall how much they cared for us. They worked hard to earn money for our food, clothing, shelter, medicine, education, and toys.

They spent great amounts of time nurturing us. If we were on a sports team, they may have watched us play. If we were in a school performance, they may have taken time to attend. Even if we did not have a loving relationship, our mother still carried us in her womb for nine months and underwent the birth pangs to bring us into the world.

In our adult life we may have experienced a romantic love. We may have found ourselves falling in love with someone and becoming lost in the intoxication of that love. We may have felt that all the problems of the world and our worries disappeared in the company of our loved one.

Time seemed to fly and we could have been lost for hours in conversation with that person or in looking into each other’s eyes. The romantic love made us blind to each other’s imperfections and faults.

If later in life we became parents, we experienced another kind of love. We may have been overwhelmed by the feeling of love as we held our baby in our arms and looked into his or her eyes. The tiny fingers wrapped around our hand may have filled us with an indescribable sense of warmth.

We finally may have come to realize how much love our parents felt for us. No sacrifice was too great to make sure our child had the best food, clothing, and toys.

These outer loves are but a small reflection of the great love that exists in our soul. If we multiply the greatest love we have known in this outer world by tenfold or a hundredfold, we may have some inkling of the love that awaits us within.