Book Quote Pt. 1

I recently read "Green Grass of Wyoming" by Mary O'Hara, and the book is good in its entirety, but there are a couple of parts that were especially good.

Here's one of them:

"The term, "the love of God" is used so much. It is spoken of as if it should be taken for granted. Children are told, "If you loved God you wouldn't do that." The child never seems to have the sense to answer, "But I don't love Him. I don't know Him. I don't want Him or ever think about Him." Which would often be the truth. Also, it seems to be taken for granted in most sermons, that of course every Christian, every religious person has a true love of God in his heart. But this is not so. I think it is one of the rarest things in the world, one of the greatest gifts, really the pearl of great price. So I always say in my mind most urgently to preachers, "Well, now, give us a sermon about the Love of God. How can you get it? Where is it to be found?" But I don't think I have ever heard a sermon about just that one thing (which is not to say that they have not been preached).
So the upshot is that I have done a great deal of thinking about it myself, trying to find out how that beautiful flame can be lit within the human heart. I have traced love, any kind of love, back to its beginnings, or tried to, and it seems to me I have found out a good deal about it.

To begin with - just one more word about the way LOVE bestows happiness. When you come to think of it, there is nothing that bestows happiness except love. Love is implicit in all praise, in admiration. You know how, in yourself, when you see some glorious thing, a sunset, or a beautiful face, or some of those exquisite scenes of nature that you now and then come upon, a great tide of praise, love and happiness rises in your heart until it seems that it will burst, and tears push up behind your eyes! Or perhaps it is the grandeur of a symphony. Or perhaps it is great courage or a noble, unselfish deed - and again that bursting love fills the heart. This can be traced down to the smallest thing. Imagine a young girl, about to go to her coming-out party. She sees her dress lying on the bed, clasps her hands (a classic attitude of praise and love!) and stands there in a trance of happiness. Or, a gathering of friends. Analyze your warm, happy feeling. You may call it good cheer, geniality, hospitality. These are other names for love.
And so I say that it is love that gives us all our happiness, and if only we could find some way to kindle it to a great flame in ourselves, which would never wane or die, and for some One who could never disappoint or abandon us, we could ask nothing more. We would be just bursting with happiness all the time. This great happiness is what the Saints have, and is why they are Saints. This happiness is what the mystics have. So now, back to our search - how to get it?
Well then, look at love. Wherever you see it (and you see it nearly everywhere) trace it to its beginning. What started it?

Let's take a very simple example. Penny, when she sees me the first thing in the morning. Or the puppies. They almost burst with love. Where do they get it? Where does Penny get it?
Well, Penny needs me. Penny is helpless without me. From the mother a baby gets security, food, warmth, tenderness, companionship and a thousand gifts that change and increase as the infant gets larger and needs more.

So first there is need.
Now what next? Second, I should say, the recognition of the source of good. It isn't long before the infant knows that all these things come from its mother. And what next? Gratitude. And here we have love, the full cup running over.
There one sees the evolution of love. First NEED, then RECOGNITION OF THE SOURCE OF GOOD (I wish I could find one word for that - perhaps you can) and then GRATITUDE.
I think there is no love in the world that does not begin with those things.
The love of friends? Of course. The need, the recognition of that particular person as a friend, and then the gratitude.
The love of men and women? First, their great and permanent need, then the recognition of each other as possessors of all the gifts that could fill that need, then, if the gifts are bestowed - the great gratitude.
The love of God? First we find out how much we need Him. I think that a person who does not find that out, who is incapable of finding that out, who is always smug and self-sufficient, can never win this great happiness.
Then, needing Him, we grope around perhaps for years to find the source of good. And at last we do. Probably someone tells us, tells us in a way that we can accept and understand. The torch is lit from one hand to the other, and has been all down through the ages. We know where our good is and we turn away from the things of the world (or at least we know that they are not of final power and importance) to God, and our "hearts burn within us" and we know that He is with us, always has been, always will be, and we are filled with gratitude and we are so happy we could die.
This second step in the process I suppose is a miracle. It is a gift. It comes to some and not to others. I suppose it comes to those who need the most, who seek the most persistently. It takes thinking about. It might seem that there are many good things which do not come from God - the girl's pretty dress, the good dinner, material belongings which are bought, or achievements which are earned, but this is looking at it in a small way. The nobility of human character, heroism, courage, unselfishness, steadfastness, conscience above all - that inexplicable determination in man to lift himself up from his lower nature and live on the highest level he is capable of (and to this force can be traced all man's progress of whatever sort) - it is obvious that these come from God. And we are grateful for them. Try to imagine what life on this planet would be like if man had no conscience. Try to imagine it without beauty. Try to imagine the physical universe without order, plan, design.
If you think of things like that, Howard, perhaps, suddenly, your heart will "burn within you" and you will know that the flame of the love of God has been lit because you have recognized Him as the source of good.
Once you have the love of God it spills over onto everything, and your heart and your life and your world are full of love and therefore full of happiness."