I was in college and was sleeping deeply in my dorm room bed after a rough day of classes. Suddenly, I heard the door open and light from the hallway streamed in. My best friend and roommate was standing there unsteadily. His girlfriend had broken up with him earlier that day and he had spent the evening downtown in a bar trying to drown his sorrows with 13 whiskey sours. I got up and helped him to climb up into the bunk bed above me. He didn’t look so good. His face was whiter than normal and he could barely walk.

After fending off some idiots on our floor who tried to get him to go back downtown for more drinking I finally got him to lay down. After a minute he said he was going to be sick. I managed to get him to the bathroom down the hall but he couldn’t throw up. I walked him slowly back to bed and got him into the top bunk again. I was just about to drift back off to sleep when I heard it: retching followed by 13 whiskey sours splashing on his sheets. I got him off the bed again, stripped his sheets and helped him back up once more. I was wary of another splash down but soon I heard his gentle snoring. I couldn’t really be mad at him, though. After all, he just wanted what we all wanted: “To be Loved.”

Over the decades that followed I started to realize a few things too. I learned that the best way to be loved was to be loving. And I learned that the best way to be loving was to realize that you were already loved. We are all loved completely and unconditionally by the most powerful Love in the universe. God loves us all and God wants us to bless this world with our love as well. Open your heart then and let His Love in. Open your life and let your love out. The greatest gift we can ever get is to be loved and the greatest gift we can ever give is to be loving. And the truth is, they are one and the same.