What's love got to do with it?

The Ace of Cups got me thinking about love and how cynical I can be about love.  OK, maybe not cynical, but at least skeptical.  Wary.  Society seems to give us mixed signals about love.  In some religious traditions love is a gift from God.  We have phrases like "to fall in love" and "to be blinded by love."  Then there's the image of Cupid's arrow.  But this whole love mindset seems to be so passive and arbitrary.  It's something we have absolutely no control over.  At the same time society asks us when we're going to find Mr/Ms Right and settle down-- as if we were in control of this.  

So I'm taking the love out of the cup and replacing it with compassion.  And as this is the ace of the suit, I am reminded of potentiality.  Compassion needs to DO not just BE.  Just having the compassion doesn't guarantee anything will come of ut. Even when it's difficult to identify compassion in ourselves, we can ACT and SPEAK compassionately.  Compassion is easy when we see a child in need or even homeless person asking for money.  But can we still DO compassion when it comes to our ex causing all kinds of drama?  Can we find some compassion for people from the opposite end of the political spectrum?   Is there even a shred of compassion available for members of ISIS?  

What can we do daily to fill the cup, our hearts,  with compassion so that it spills over and becomes active?  Can it start with compassionate words and then actions?  It's not all that easy, but it's much more promising, and certainly more fulfilling, than waiting around for Mr. Tall-Dark-and-Handsome or the female equivalent.