Love - what a gift

My mom and I were talking on the phone the other night and we were talking about how horrible it is for some people who just don't feel loved. It's hard to imagine for some of us that someone could possibly feel that way, but actually I think there are lots of people in the world who feel that way. I think that is one of the reasons the world is so messed up, lack of love, for one another as human beings, for oneself, etc...

This conversation got me thinking and sort of analyzing my own life and loved ones. Its crazy because I am someone who, well I have an EXTREMELY loving husband, who really is very affectionate and open with his feelings with me, which is a great gift for any person. In addition to him, I grew up in an environment that well, my high school peers use to call "the brady bunch", not to say we were perfect or never fought, but honest to God I believe I am one of the lucky ones when it comes to family life. One can point out many, many flaws in my family, but lack of love is NOT one of them. The 4 of us love each other as much as any family could. I also have handful of extremely close friends whom I love dearly and I feel they love me. I am not trying to brag, I have a point. Despite all of this, there have been many times in my life where I felt completely unloved. I actually remember thinking to myself, oh the love of my parents and sister doesn't count, they have to love me I would think. I suffered sort of short periods of depression because I felt unloved/liked. I find it difficult to make good friends (as I said, I have a handful of very close friends, otherwise, i have a lot of acquantances, but not like super duper friends), and I also feel a lot of times that I think my friendship is deeper than it really is. Like I feel that if i stopped calling/writing, reaching out, people i consider to be friends, wouldn't make the effort to reach out to me. So if I, who deep down KNOW that I am loved by quite a few people(sometimes we just feel like moping and make more out of things than they are), can feel completely unloved and depressed, what about people who actually don't have anyone in their lives or who don't have a nice family to turn to when they need to feel love. How horrible that must be. And to be honest, the MOST important factor I haven't even mentioned yet, is my Faith, my love for my faith. I get so much strength from that and know, no matter how much i may think people don't love me, that God Loves me, if He didn't, He wouldn't have created me.

So what do people do who don't have Faith or family, or God forbid friends.??? I can't even imagine how one lives life without the gift of love. It really is a gift, one we should nurture and cherish. And, regardless of the times I have felt down, I feel very loved and know how lucky I am and definitely don't take it for granted, so please don't interpret this post as a desire to throw myself a pity party or make others feel bad for me. To the contrary, I am trying to point out how very blessed I am, and that I can't possibly imagine what it must be like for people who aren't so lucky. To end my post, I would like to quote the Bahai Writings:

"O Son of Man! I loved thy creation, hence I created thee. Wherefore, do thou love Me, that I may name thy name and fill thy soul with the spirit of life."