Part 102 (1/2)
LOVE.
”Well, what has that to do with health and long life?” ask the cynic, the bachelor, the old maid possibly, and the plodders.
Everything, I reply.
The man, woman, or child who loves well and wisely, who loves the most, is the happiest, healthiest, and will live the longest.
”That is a bold a.s.sertion,” says my quizzer.
Yes, and true as bold. Now listen in silence to my statement.
Who loves, what loves, and what is the result?
”G.o.d is love.” Here is the first, the fundamental principle.
He is the oldest of all beings. To be like him is to love,--to love all things which he has created. This is G.o.dlike. If you are not thus, you are like the unG.o.dly, who ”shall not live out half their days.” ”Love G.o.d, and keep his commandments.”
”Love thy neighbor as thyself.”
Is there not more happiness and health in the obeying of this command, than in disobedience to it? Whatever is conducive to happiness is healthful. Whatever produces unhappiness is injurious to health. Love is undefinable.
”There is a fragrant blossom that maketh glad the garden of the heart.
Its root lieth deep; it is delicate, yet lasting as the lilac-crocus of autumn.
I saw, and asked not its name; I knew no language was so wealthy.
Though every heart of every clime findeth its echo within.
And yet, what shall I say? Is a sordid man capable of love?
Hath a seducer known it? Can an adulterer perceive it?
Chaste, and looking up to G.o.d, as the fountain of tenderness and joy.
Quiet, yet flowing deep, as the Rhine among rivers.
Lasting, and knowing not change, it walketh in truth and sincerity.
Love never grows old, love never perisheth.”
AFFECTION AND PERFECTION.
Love is so closely connected with our lives, and all that makes or mars our peace and pleasure, health and beauty, that I should feel guilty of a sin of omission by excluding this item from my chapter on health and happiness.
To be unloved is to be unhappy. Do not forget the connection between health and happiness. They are all but synonymous terms.