Do You Know That You Are Loved?

For you.

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Do you know that you are loved?

I should hope so.

I should hope that you have already been told that you are, in oh so many ways, and that you have committed it to heart as a constant, a given, and as such, that perhaps you scoff at the idea that this piece could ever affirm something so plainly true.

I should hope that you reminded yourself of this fact the first moment you could today. That maybe you looked in the mirror, or in a still pool of water, or at the image you may have of yourself in your mind, and said with a voice that is all your own: “You are loved.”

I should hope that the first light to reach your eyes brought with it the reminder as well, that it kissed the back of your eyelids with a sweet burst of pure, universal affection, the kind that causes both the plants and the droplets of dew on their leaves to rise in a futile attempt to reach the source.

I should hope that the first water to reach your form, whether to quench your thirst or cleanse you of the remnants of the prior day, has embraced you with the life-giving flow of simple molecules bound by their near-inseparable fondness for one another.

Do you know that you are loved?

If you do not, though it breaks my heart, that is okay too, for we all have days when we do not feel loved at all.

It is okay if the face in the mirror or in the pool of water, or the image in your mind, glared back at you instead, and told you how worthless and ugly and undeserving of adoration you are, for these statements are false, but at times, we tell ourselves such things, and we must be patient with ourselves when we do.

It is okay if the light that first woke you from your slumber did so much to your annoyance and caused you to immediately roll over and curse it, as well as the day that it has announced, because sometimes we need to do that and we know that the light will continue to shine anyway.

It is okay if you have not touched water today, or yesterday, or the day before that, if you have only consumed liquids saturated in other substances, and if the remnants of prior days or even weeks still cling to your body like the lies that cause you to think you might be deserving of such a fate.

If you do not know right now that you are loved…

You are.

You are loved.

You are loved, and maybe you knew this once, but have forgotten, as we all do from time to time.

You are loved, oh, how you are loved, whether you are reading this for the first time on the last day of the year of 2020, or on the first, second, third or one-hundred and thirty-eighth day of any other year.

You are loved, truly loved, with a love that does not expect return or penance or payment of any sorts, whether you and I are good friends and have embraced many times, or whether we have never met and you are far from me (in this world at least), in time or in space or in some of the ways that are difficult to describe and would require a piece longer than this one.

You are so very loved, and you always will be, just for who you are, and if anyone else in your life, including yourself, tells you otherwise, try not to listen, but be patient and do not judge yourself when you do, because it is hard to feel loved when we are told otherwise so often.

You are loved, whoever you are, always and forever.

Do you know that you are loved?

Maybe not, even still.

But I do.