Friday, July 22, 2011

Love Begins with You

Entering Stephansplatz in Vienna, Austria to see St. Stephen's Cathedral (or Stephans Kirche) can be a life changing experience. Dubbed "the number one attraction in the city", the church invites passerbys to stop and take stock in understanding beauty defined by, and constructed over, centuries.

While taking in the enormity of the church, one might overlook the banner with the message, Love begins with you, hanging down the side. Initially constructed in 1147, with 230,000 multi-colored tiles and towers reaching 445 feet into the sky, the message on the banner can be easily ignored. Does it jump out at you? 

 We find it ironic that the message of the banner is interpreted while simultaneously digesting the magnitude of the church itself.

Love begins with you. It's an easy message to forget or overlook, right? In life, we tend to focus on the world existing outside of ourselves, forgetting that the lens we use to focus on the world begins within.

Love begins with you. It's an easy message to ignore, right? In life, we tend to be hard on ourselves versus loving ourselves. We find a lot of ways to tear ourselves down and this action affects the way we love others.

But, love begins with you. It is obvious why Stephans Kirche is a hallmark of Vienna. You simply can't miss it. The banner hanging down the side is much less noticeable, yet equally important in terms of seeing beautiful. If we all stood in awe of the saying, "Love beings with you", how much more wonderful would this world be? The eyes we use to take in everything would be refreshed because we love ourselves and others while taking in the world. See beautiful message to commit to memory today: Love, our friends, begins with you.

To learn more about Stephans Kirche visit here.

5 comments:

  1. love begins with us, and like with ALL things...it only gets better and bigger when it is shared.

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  2. This is such a powerful message. Love, compassion, respect -- all of it begins at the individual. If we each treated one another and Mother Nature with compassion we'd be seeing some serious beautiful around us.

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  3. Yes, it does. I firmly believe that.

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  4. Thank you for making it possible for me to comment on here - it works!!

    I'm tempted to go through my photos of when I was in Vienna and see if that banner was there. If I disregarded it, that's only because of my lack of the German language! That roof really is something. I try to remember this as much as possible. It reminds me of one of my favorite songs "Man in the Mirror" by Michael Jackson. "If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make that change" and now I must go listen to this song. :)

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  5. I absolutely love your blog. I found you through FTLOB inspiration page. I can see why you're there. :)

    xoxo
    katie
    http://loveiseverywhere.blogspot.com

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Thank you for sharing your thoughts & helping others see beautiful too!