Naked Love

This was given to me on our wedding day by Robert Beatty, 

our friend and teacher who married us. ♥ Molly

A friend of mine visited a monastery where a dozen monks, most of whom were in their seventies and eighties, were living. This is a place where once sixty to seventy men spent their lives studying and following a rule of very strict living, praying together seven times a day, seven days a week. They worked hard and were successful. My friend asked one of the monks why he had felt that over the years the community had dwindled from sixty to twelve. His reply was, "We did everything right and somewhere in all that successful praying and work and living we lost the most important thing of all - the thing that was so contagious and attracted people to us. We lost the naked love. Little by little the success replaced the love. Oh sure, you can have love and success, but the love has to remain first - always first - natural, affirming, inclusive, naked love. Love and success in that order. It's that simple and that difficult."

- Mr. Rogers