The Result Of Loving God

"The more you learn to love God, the more you learn to know and to cherish yourself. Self-knowledge and self-love are the fruit of knowing and loving God. You can see better now what is intended by the great commandment to 'love the Lord your God will all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself.' Laying our hearts totally open to God leads to a love of ourselves that enables us to give whole-hearted love to our fellow human beings. In the seclusion of our hearts we learn to know the hidden presence of God; and with that spiritual knowledge we can lead a loving life." -Letters to Marc about Jesus from Henri Nouwen's The Only Necessary Thing.