Measuring With Love

Barbara Z. Perman, Ph.D.

"God and Nature first made us what we are, and then out of our own created genius we make ourselves what we want to be. Follow always that great law. Let the sky and god be our limit and Eternity our measurement."~ Marcus Garvey

We humans have devised many ways of measuring things in our everyday world. Some things are easier to measure than others. When I get ready to go out, I check the temperature and weather forecast on my cell phone. When I went to buy a new fever thermometer, I found one that takes someone's temperature by touching it to the person's temple for six seconds.

Digital technology has made measurement easy. Almost without thinking about it, we go online to check financial markets, retail sales numbers, and college students' test grades. On the other hand, external measurements fail when we are trying to pay attention to what is going on inside us. In the hurry of our lives, how can we take a reading on our "internal temperature"? How do we assess the well being of our loved ones? Who is taking our own emotional temperature and giving us the "medicines" we need to be restored and renewed?

Napoleon Hill said, "Action is the real measure of intelligence." As we go into this holiday period, it seems that people are especially looking forward to spending time with people they care about.  I am sensing that there is an extra measure of appreciation for the people in our lives. This is an opportunity to check with our internal gauges. As we choose gifts to give, we can ask, is this mostly about size and amount, or about meeting a loved one's need or want?

I read recently that when food is made with love, people get much more out of eating it than just the calories. As we prepare our holiday meals, we can not only fill our measuring cup with ingredients but fill what we make with our energy and our love. That is the true measure of who we are and what is important.