Alter of Love

The Alter of Love

A father brought his son to a huge monument. It was a huge red heart. It was so large that the head had to really arch up to see its end when standing right in front of it. At the base of the monument was a photo of two common looking people holding hands. Beneath them in a gorgeous black onyx wall was inscribed a beautiful story of love.

After the father read the story to his son he paused and asked him if he understood the meaning of this story. The son grimaced and told him it was just a love story and he was not interested in it. The wise father smiled and acknowledged that he may not be interested on it now, but that he wanted to share it with him now so that by the time that he needed to remember it, they would have had plenty of time to discuss it and remember its many lessons.

The father then continued to question his son on the meaning of the story and the miracle it represented. And the young son continued to not want to discuss this boring and somewhat embarrassing subject with him. The father persisted saying this was important and he started telling the meaning and behind the scene tale to the story he had read on the wall.

Once there were two lovers that like many lovers before them had a beautiful and heavenly love. Like all other couples in love, they thought their love was unique and special beyond belief. They thought they were the luckiest people in the world and they knew they had the best and strongest love in the world. There are many beautiful stories of love in the annals of mankind and they thought theirs belonged up there with the most beautiful stories of love.

One day the man began to think of how strong his love for her was and he began looking for way to demonstrate it. He thought and thought about it and decided to show his love to her by building a large heart in the middle of their ranch. The idea was to build a never ending heart and each day of their lives he would add another layer to it to show their love growing. Well many years came and went and the heart became truly humongous. It was so large that it took the entire family to add new layers everyday and finally when one of them died the heart was completed by the family as the man was too old to put the last layer on.

But the man’s love was not over and he loved her even when she was in heaven and he thought so more about how to tell her and the world of his love for her. One day he began to pray in front of his alter for her. Everyday three times a day he would pray for an hour. He would pray for God to grant him an easement in heaven so that his heart could project itself into heaven for her to see. This bulky material heart would beam its image as a search light beams itself into the heavens so that it would also reside in heaven for her to see everyday. He never quit and everyday of every year for the rest of his 10 remaining years he prayed with all of his heart. Not knowing whether God heard him or whether she could see the heart in heaven but seeing it in his heart as if she could. That was his gift to her and to the world for he thought that a love so strong should be given to the world. Before he died he donated the ranch to the government so it could be made into a park so that everyone could come celebrate his love for her and so that everyone would bring their love to this special alter of love that in his mind reached to heaven. He also wanted this special place to give love to those that had lost it and give hope to those that thought they may never have it again. This passion for his mate started as just his joy in celebration of their love but it ended being something much bigger since the alter itself became a symbol and a beacon for love on earth. Its great size told everyone who saw it that love does exist and how huge it can be, and even if they just had just a little piece of this love it would still be huge in their own hearts. Also it spoke of family love and the great inspiration love can create in a family as when they could no longer build the layer by themselves the family gave their love and time to help finish this great alter. It started for the love of a woman and a man and it ended representing the love of humanity and the love of heaven. With his faithful prayers he infused the heart with a great energy that all who wanted could feel, and just approaching the heart was enough to soften hard entrenched hearts and open closed hearts. The loyalty and devotion he and his lady showed while alive inspired generations to try harder when times were tough in a relationship specially to find a purpose and a meaning in another heart and not quit without a great deal of consideration; after all they were far from perfect but they had love that kept them together even after death.

Looking down at this man passing the story and hope of love to his son, the two lovers in heaven smiled and were pleased. He had been heard and everyday when she visited the entrance to heaven she would see the projection of the heart in heaven. It was larger and heavenly beautiful and it spoke to her with every word he uttered in his prayer—it spoke to her. He was not wrong that she could hear him, he knew it in his heart and when he arrive in heaven he saw it. But his great devotion to this most spiritual emotion also inspired heaven. While at first she was the only one that could see it; after a while with her religious visits to the same spot and her smiling face showing equanimity other angels and souls started gathering and she described what she saw and they also started seeing it and they also started visiting. Just before he came to heaven the heart became a permanent part of heaven much to the chagrin of St. Peter who hated the crowds just inside the Pearly Gates that gathered to feed off the heavenly love. The heart was as solid in heaven as the rest of heaven. It because a symbol of love on earth and on heaven as each new soul entering heaven would see it and be reminded of the Love that the House of the Lord represents. To the lovers it was much more however, for they could see what others could not, they could see their names scrolled across it—Nelly & Rey and they rejoiced in this special heavenly gift that privately celebrated that special love that started it all!

With devotion to love two lovers did what no others had done before. They inspired both earth and heaven with their love. By building a heart that represented their huge love they shared their love and made it a family affair. By leaving their love to all, they shared a tool everyone could use to bring love into their own hearts and for eons after they parted the earth, this symbol increased the love quotient of the earth!

Back on earth the child listened but did not really show interest. For many years the father would speak of the heart and they visited it twice more. The boy became a young man and romantic love opened up in his heart. At once his interest in the Heart Alter became more important but they had moved far away and he could not visit it. However, his father reminded him the heart was just a symbol and a tool. The energy of love existed inside him and love came down from heaven for those that desired it. Like the man praying everyday for his lover in heaven, Love existed in an intangible form and it touched everyone who wished to have it. Understanding, the young man stood and kissed his father gratefully on the forehead, hugged him warmly, and with joy and hope and love in his heart he parted from his father as he uttered, “I Love You”.