{"id":89818,"date":"2025-08-21T13:04:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T18:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spiritualsparks.beehiiv.com\/p\/spiritual-sparks-love-giving-and-popcorn-c68be5fe02a06a4b"},"modified":"2025-08-21T13:04:00","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T18:04:00","slug":"spiritual-sparks-love-giving-and-popcorn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/spiritual-sparks-love-giving-and-popcorn\/","title":{"rendered":"Spiritual Sparks: Love, Giving, and Popcorn"},"content":{"rendered":"\n    <div class='beehiiv'><style>\n  .bh__table, .bh__table_header, .bh__table_cell { border: 1px solid #C0C0C0; }\n  .bh__table_cell { padding: 5px; background-color: #FFFFFF; }\n  .bh__table_cell p { color: #2D2D2D; font-family: 'Helvetica',Arial,sans-serif !important; overflow-wrap: break-word; }\n  .bh__table_header { padding: 5px; background-color:#F1F1F1; }\n  .bh__table_header p { color: #2A2A2A; font-family:'Trebuchet MS','Lucida Grande',Tahoma,sans-serif !important; overflow-wrap: break-word; }\n<\/style><div class='beehiiv__body'><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\"><b>Can you define love?<\/b> We know it when we feel it ... but what makes it grow?<\/p><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\"><span style=\"color:rgb(120, 63, 4);\">Welcome to <\/span><span style=\"color:rgb(120, 63, 4);\"><i>Spiritual Sparks. <\/i><\/span><span style=\"color:rgb(120, 63, 4);\">You\u2019re receiving this email because you signed up to receive weekly insights on spirituality. Each week, I\u2019ll share 3 meaningful ideas, 2 thought-provoking quotes, and 1 reflective question.<\/span><\/p><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\">\u201cOh, \u2019tis love, \u2019tis love that makes the world go round,\u201d wrote Lewis Carroll in <i>Alice\u2019s Adventures in Wonderland.<\/i> True! And love makes <b>our<\/b> world go round, touching one of the soul\u2019s greatest pleasures. This week\u2019s topic is <b>love<\/b>: how it delights the soul, how it grows through clarity and appreciation, and how it deepens through giving.<\/p><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\">\u2728<b>3 Ideas<\/b><\/p><ol start=\"1\"><li><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\"><b>Love is a deep soul pleasure<\/b><\/p><\/li><\/ol><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\">Love is one of life\u2019s greatest joys, celebrated in countless songs and stories.<br>It\u2019s powerful enough to inspire sacrifice and life-changing choices.<br>Why do we crave it? <b>Our soul recognizes love as an eternal spiritual pleasure.<\/b><\/p><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\">Animals love by fiercely protecting their young.<\/p><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\"><b>Human love<\/b>, though, <b>widens<\/b>; it extends <b>to friends and the Divine<\/b>.<br>A mother lion will die for her cubs, but she won\u2019t bake cookies for the neighbor\u2019s kids.<\/p><ol start=\"2\"><li><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\"><b>Love grows with clarity and appreciation<\/b><\/p><\/li><\/ol><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\">Most people can sense love but struggle to define it. <i>Love is an emotion created within us when we recognize the good qualities and virtues of another person.<\/i><\/p><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\">We can\u2019t love what we don\u2019t know.<b> Attention awakens love.<\/b><\/p><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\">Sometimes love is present but hidden, like yogurt smudged on our glasses.<br>Remove resentment and ingratitude, and love is released into the soul\u2019s open air.<\/p><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\"> 3.<b> Love is strengthened through giving<\/b><\/p><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\">We often think we give because we love -- but we also love because we give.<br><b>Giving plants the seeds of love in the human soul.<\/b><br>Parents love their children so deeply in part because they give so much for so long.<\/p><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\"><b>Infatuation fades but love endures<\/b>, as the country song says: \u201c<i>Honey, I don\u2019t care, I ain\u2019t in love with your hair. And if it all fell out, well, I\u2019d love you anyway<\/i>.\u201d<\/p><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\">When comfort and self-interest are set aside, real love is free to flourish.<\/p><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\"><span style=\"color:rgb(208, 224, 227);\">----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<\/span><\/p><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\">\ud83d\udcdc<b>2 Quotes<\/b><\/p><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\">\u201cA friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity.\u201d -- Proverbs 17:17<\/p><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\">\u201cLove is sharing your popcorn.\u201d -- Charles Schulz<\/p><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\"><span style=\"color:rgb(208, 224, 227);\">----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<\/span><\/p><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\">\u2753<b>1 Question<\/b><\/p><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\">Who or what do you feel a deep love for ... and why?<\/p><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\"><span style=\"color:rgb(208, 224, 227);\">----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<\/span><\/p><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\">True love rarely arrives with fanfare. It\u2019s cultivated through noticing more goodness, giving more freely, and loving more deeply.<\/p><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\">Until next time,<br>Wishing you moments of love that make your soul smile,<\/p><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\"><b>Rabbi Ze&#39;ev Smason<\/b><\/p><p class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\">Enjoy this email? 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