" 'Like Me' or I Die"

Facebook has called attention to an appeal that, until now, most of us made rather shyly. I am talking about the "LIKE ME" persuasion. We all want to be liked, don't we? I am yet to meet anyone who doesn't. Individuals and organizations alike crave to be liked and that is perfectly normal.
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Why? If no one likes us, we may feel lonely or rejected. If no one likes our business we would be out of business in no time. If friends and colleagues no longer like us, we lose motivation. If family members don't 'like us', we break up and go separate ways. In most cases our desire to be liked is legitimate; at least in this age of persuasion.
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However, the case is much deeper than "like me" on facebook. For many people, the "like me" appeal is really a critical "love me" cry of the heart. Why else would emotions run so wild for some as to seek the life of another person just because those people refuse to like them? Though it is not often said verbally, many children are crying out loud to their parents to love them. So are spouses to their partners, followers  to their leaders and even nations to their "big brother nations" The seriousness of this cry of the heart is seen in interpersonal conflicts in the workplace, bullying in schools, separation in homes, crises, oppression and rebellions in communities and nations and several cases of suicide. The degree to which people crave to be loved usually reflects the degree to which they are vulnerable and vulnerability makes victims of people. Don't we have victims of love starvation all around us? So, the universality of the "like me" appeal truly reveals the deep-seated need to be loved. Indeed, our world values LOVE and desperately need it NOW!
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The challenge, though, is this: Like most other essential commodities of life, giving and receiving love follows the laws of demand and supply. If the supply of a commodity (goods and services needed for daily sustenance) is low, demand for that commodity will be high and if supply is high demand will be low. It follows that the high demand for love in our world points to the scarcity of love in circulation. Why is this so? Because many people just do not have enough love for themselves and have very  little or none to share with others. Yes, everyone around you needs love. Some are desperately looking for love. From family members to school mates and from colleagues at work to friends at church, you may find love-starved individual sitting next to you. Are you one of these? There is a way:

• Receive LOVE From Source. People cannot give you what they don't have. Looking for love from people in desperation is only setting oneself for a big fall. A better approach is to receive love from source and that is God. If you experience God's love you will be at rest no matter what. You no longer feel the need to appeal to people to like you or love you making yourself vulnerable.Your self esteem grow and you will live each day in confidence knowing that someone greater than everyone else, God himself, loves you. (John 3:16). One way to connect to God's love is to know Jesus personally and join a group of like-minded people of faith. If you want to know how desperately you need LOVE check how willing, able and ready you are to love people. If you find yourself happy only when people like your photo on facebook or show some form of affection, you may be running low on love. If you find yourself touchy, keeping a record of what you don't like about people and unable to love people who are mean to you, you need God's love. Once you receive it, you would start bursting forth everyday with love from within and you will end up being a giver rather than a desperate receiver.
• Give LOVE everyday The nature of true love is such that it does not stay stagnant in one container. To remain fresh it must keep flowing form one container to another and viceversa. The danger of hoarding love is that you have no room to receive from others when you need it and you cannot receive from the person you refuse to give to. Choose each day to say or do something that will show you genuinely love the people in your life and they will most likely love you back. That way, everyone will be love-satisfied and no one fall victim to fake love. If you can't give love, you are either running low on it or worse, you don't have it. True love overflows
• Begin at home. There is no better place to nurture love than at home. Home-made love is authentic and durable. It does not have the impurities of disguise and insincerity. It lacks artificial flavours and colours and it requires no preservative to stay fresh. When you wake up tomorrow morning, make it a point to LOOK INTO the eyes of your family members let them know that you are working on "I LOVE YOU" project and you want to start producing and supplying love to peope everywhere you go. I am sure they will support you and you will succeed together. 

Wouldn't life be so beautiful if everyone would love everyone in the world? Well, everyone cannot love everyone. Some people will like you, no matter what you do and some people will not like you no matter what you do. So be careful not to make it a life or death affair. Refuse to pay  attention to people who don't care and pray for them. They are probably too starved to taste anything good. For those ready to share, do not hold back. If you have LOVE for yourself and enough to share with others you truly have something that the world needs. With it you could etch your name in hearts and win tickets to generations yet to come. As you go about your business this week, take love with you, share with everyone you meet and it will come back to you. If you absolutely cannot love yourself, seek help from trusted sources but most importantly, connect to the source that's inexhaustible and available to all -GOD.
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Could we with ink the ocean fill,

And were the skies of parchment made,

Were every stalk on earth a quill, 

And every man a scribe by trade;

To write the love of God above

Would drain the ocean dry;

Nor could the scroll contain the whole,

Though stretched from sky to sky

-Frederick M. Lehman 1917