Love

Rhonda had been taught love and loving require doing and getting. If you do this, you will get love. If you don't do this, you will lose love. She learned that love was a bargin, when in fact, love is a principle. It is a state of being that we experience as what we do and how we do it. Because most of the people in Rhonda's life inflicted pain on her, she closely associated love with pain, whether mental, emotional or physical. Love hurt Rhonda. As a result, when she loved someone, she would hurt herself rather than hurt them.

Taken from "Yesterday, I Cried" by Iyanla Vanzant

I grew up with much the same idea of Love. In this program I have learned a new way to love and be loved. I have learned that my Higher Power is love. Love begins with being able to honestly look at myself and all that I have done and all that has happened. I had to come to believe that I am whole, lacking nothing just as God wants me to be. Once I came to believe that I could love and be loved. By placing my faith, my life, life and all it's outcomes in my Higher Powers hands the only left was love. Like it tells us in 1 Cor 13, Love does not have strings attached. It just is. Life takes on a whole new meaning when one understands love. I am grateful for a relationship with my Higher Power and the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous working in my life to teach me the true meaning of love.