What’s something most people don’t understand?
Most people do not understand how deeply loved they are.
They are loved by God. Loved by family and friends. Some are even loved by people they would never think of, people who hold them in quiet affection, gratitude, or regard without ever saying much about it.
And yet we often live as though love must be earned.
We try to earn it by being useful. By being generous. By serving. By being easy to live with. Sometimes we even try to buy it, as though gifts, effort, or constant availability might secure a place in the hearts of others.
Of course, generosity and service are good things. They matter. But they are a poor foundation if they become a way of pleading for love rather than an expression of love already received.
Perhaps that is what many people do not understand. Love, at its deepest, is not something we achieve. It is something we receive.
We may not always recognise it. We may overlook it, doubt it, or distrust it. Some of us have lived long enough with conditional love that free love feels almost impossible to believe. Even so, it remains true. We are often more loved than we know.
To realise that changes something. It allows generosity to become freer. Service to become lighter. Friendship to become less anxious. Life to become less of a performance.
The Afterword 
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