Mountains of Spices - Love

I've been reading "Mountains of Spices" by Hannah Hurnard. It is the sequel to the book, "Hind's Feet on High Places." I've read these allegories years ago, but am encouraged, again, in the simple truths.
The main character is a girl whose name was "Much Afraid" in the first book. The story was told of how she decided to leave her home in the Valley of Humiliation to follow the Shepherd to the High Places. In "Mountains of Spices," she returns to the valley to visit. She has a new name, "Grace and Glory," and is no longer crippled, disfigured or afraid. She is in the service of the Shepherd and lives in the Kingdom of Love.
For the next several days, I will post excerpts from the book that are meaningful to me. Most of the passages will be from conversations between Grace and Glory and the Shepherd as he takes her on a journey through the Mountains of Spices.

From Chapter 2 - Mountain of Pomegranates -
Love (The Law of Love)

The Shepherd speaking to Grace and Glory - "Righteousness is the condition of everything which is in harmony with the law of the universe and therefore right. Unrighteousness is everything which is out of harmony with the law of love and therefore unright. Love which worketh no ill to her neighbor is the fulfillment of the whole law on which the universe is founded. Holiness and happiness and health are the result of complete separation from everything which breaks the law of love, and a holy people are those who are set apart to love.

"Sinners are the poor miserable people who break the law of love and so bring evils of every kind upon themselves, such as abound down there in the valley. When men love they fulfill the law of their being. When they break the law of love they disrupt and frustrate the very law of life. As long as they love they are healthy and happy and harmonious, but when they cease to love and begin to think envious, resentful, bitter, unforgiving and selfish thoughts, then they begin to destroy themselves, for every part of their being is then poisoned by unloving thoughts."

"My Lord and King," said Grace and Glory, "what is true love? How can it be recognized?"

The Shepherd: "I am love," said the King very clearly. "If you want to see the pattern of true love, look at me, for I am the expression of the law of love on which the universe is founded. And the very first characteristice of true love, as I have manifested it, is willingness to accept all other human beings, just as they are, however blemished and marred by sin they may be, and to acknowledge oneness with them in their sin and need. To acknowledge also that every human heart needs both to love and to be loved, and that herein lies the very root of the oneness of mankind. For unless you sons and daughters of men are loved and also love all others besides yourselves, you cannot become what you are destined to be, the sons and daughters of the God who is love."

Mountains of Spices by Hannah Hurnard, Copyright 1977 by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers,Inc. All rights reserved.