Eknath Easwaran's Commentary
Most of us can spend years in personal pursuits without ever taking time to know the needs of people in our own home, in our neighborhood, at work. It may be rarely that we give our energy to serving their needs. We sometimes forget that our nascent capacity for love is the greatest thing we shall ever have. To nurture it, we may have to forget our private adventures in profit and pleasure for the sake of others, but that is how love grows.
It takes a lifetime to learn to love. Love does not burst forth one morning with a display of fireworks. It grows little by little every day, by bearing with people, as Shakespeare’s sonnet says, “even to the edge of doom.” That is what love requires. But if we make it our first priority, no matter what difficulties come our way, our love cannot help but grow.