THE Toughest Job

     "It's the toughest job you'll ever love."  Are you old enough to recognize this tag line?  If not, don't worry, it was at one time a part of an advertisement campaign for the Peace Corps.  Kudos to the Peace Corps they were totally spot on with this slogan.  While it will also give you the highest of highs, taking the risk of loving someone also has the potential of bringing you the lowest of lows.  Love is the toughest job you will ever have. 
     Bumper stickers and t-shirts constantly tell us that being a mom is the toughest job or that being a military spouse is the toughest job and to a certain extent they are both correct.  I speak with a GREAT deal of experience on both of these.  However, it isn't the relationship or the title that is the toughest part, it is the love.  If I didn't love my children, what they did or didn't do wouldn't bother me.  I wouldn't be devastated when life hands them a crushing blow or be able to rejoice with them from the mountaintops of life.  Likewise, if I didn't love my husband so much, I wouldn't be devastated every time Uncle Sam sends him away for a year or two.  It is the LOVE that is tough but it is that same love that keeps me going. 
      Truly loving someone means freely giving away every bit of yourself and holding nothing back.  I don't know about you but that TERRIFIES me!  To hold nothing back.  Wow.  We all wear masks everyday to protect ourselves.  These masks help us feel safe because no one can see the real us through them.  Even our closest loved ones aren't allowed total access through the masks at times.  Can you imagine peeling ALL of these masks off and REALLY letting someone see the real you?  That, my friend, is what true love is and it is not easy.  Love really is a job.  So, what does the paycheck look like?  INDESCRIBABLE!
      Once you peel away all the masks you allow your loved one to see the real you.  You allow them the opportunity to love the real you and that is liberating.  That means they really love YOU and not all the masks you wore!  THAT love is so AWESOME that I will leave it's description to the poets and song makers. 
     The real question is can we do it?  Can we be naked with ourselves and those we love?  Those masks not only protect us from others but from ourselves as well.  I have a good friend struggling with this right now.  She is an incredible person and yet she masks all that is good about herself and sees the bad.  The people who love her see the masks, but we also see through them to the incredible woman she is inside.  We see who she really is inside and try to help her to see it too.  She doesn't.  She just sees the masks.  That is what I risk in loving her, to see her in pain, causes me pain and there is nothing I can do about it.  And so, I take that risk and accept the toughest job in the world.  I love her.
     Love may make the world go around but the masks slow it down.  The masks prevent us from making the most powerful connection we will ever make on earth.  Love.   So, as we approach the new year and begin our resolutions, let's make a promise to ourselves and to the ones to tear down our masks and take on the toughest job in the world, LOVE.