Unconditional Love

She awoke with a start, her heart beating wildly and her face drenched in perspiration. She’d had that dream again of the last conversation that she’d had with her mother. She knew in her heart why she kept having the dream. It was a dying wish from her mother that she didn’t want to do. She got up from the bed and sat in her recliner chair. She thought back to the last days that she had spent with her mother.

“My darling sister is not here again! She promised you that would come to see you, but like always, she hasn’t shown up!”, she said angrily to her mother.
“That’s okay, dear. She’ll come when she’s ready,” her mother assured her.
“When she’s ready?! She’s never ready! She’s selfish and self-centered! Her social world means more to her than you!”, she expressed with a great disdain for her sister.
“There’s still a little time,” her mother said softly to her.
“Why do you always take her side and make excuses for her? She never comes to help with your care. When she does show up for five minutes it’s always about her and never about you!”, she continued in her angry tirade.
“Some of us are more able to handle illness than others. That doesn’t mean that they don’t love us,” her mother explained.
“Love! Love! She has no concept of love unless it’s about her! She loves herself and only herself!”, she expressed with great contempt.
“Don’t you love yourself?”, her mother inquired.
“Of course I do, but I’m not self-centered where I exclude everyone else,” she replied.
“Do you remember when your sister was born. Up until that time, you were our only child. You were very angry with me and your father for bringing her home. You refused to even look at her. You said that she was taking our love away from you. When one of us would hold her, you would throw temper tantrums and act out atrociously in other ways. You wanted our undivided attention on you,” her mother reminded her.
“I was a child, Mamma”, she said with a sigh.
“I know, dear, but your father and I never got angry or disgusted with you because we loved you. We loved you no matter how you acted out. We gently taught you that there was enough love to go around for the both of you. We forgave your bad actions and opened our hearts up to give you even more love. We taught you that you were a part of God and to love the part of another person that was also God in them as it was in you,” her mother explained to her.
“I understood and I learned the lesson, but my darling little sister didn’t,” she said sullenly.
“You have embraced the lesson and gone farther in your spiritual development than she has which is why you know that unconditional love and not harsh judgment is the way. Your sister will find her own way in time. The foundation that we taught you both is there for her just as it was for you,” her mother said with a loving smile.
“She’s a real slow learner!”, she commented sarcastically.
“Some of us do learn slower than others. I want you to promise me that you will reach out to your sister with unconditional love and not anger and harsh judgment after I’m gone. Love who she is in Spirit and don’t judge her by her outer actions. She will learn that all of her actions have consequences and the consequences may sometimes be harsh and hurtful. Just as your father and I were your nonjudgmental, unconditional love place where you found peace, rest and healing, you must be that place for your sister,” her mother said to her.
“I don’t know if I can make that promise. She makes me so angry and it’s difficult for me to get past her selfishness!”, she replied.
“This is another part of your spiritual growth, an important part. Promise me that you won’t let anger and judgment stop you from expanding who you are in Spirit and becoming a person of unconditional love,” her mother insisted.
“All right. I promise that I will try,” she had said with a deep sigh.

It had been a month since her mother’s passing. Her sister had failed to visit their mother before she passed. At the memorial service, her sister had cried louder than anyone else. People had given her sister hugs and pats of sympathy as if she had been there for their mother throughout her illness. She hadn’t spoken to her sister since the memorial service even though her sister had called her several times. She hadn’t returned her sister’s calls. The dreams, she knew, was her mother reminding her of her promise. She gave a deep sigh.
“I promised you, Mamma, that I would try to be a place of unconditional love and I will,” she said aloud in the room.
She could feel the loving presence of her mother in the room. Her mother was pleased. Even from the other side her mother was giving her unconditional love.