To love abundantly is to live abundantly, and to love forever is

"To love abundantly is to live abundantly, and to love forever is to live forever." – Henry Drummond

In this radiant declaration, Henry Drummond, the Scottish writer and evangelist of the nineteenth century, unveils one of the most luminous truths of the human spirit: that love and life are one and the same essence. To love abundantly — freely, deeply, without measure or fear — is to draw upon the very wellspring of existence itself. For love is not a mere emotion nor a fleeting passion; it is the breath of the soul, the divine current through which all life flows. When we love fully, we live fully. When we love eternally, we touch eternity.

The origin of this wisdom can be traced to Drummond’s famous work The Greatest Thing in the World, a meditation on the thirteenth chapter of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians — the hymn to love. In those sacred lines, Paul wrote, “Love never fails.” Drummond, inspired by that eternal vision, taught that love is the highest manifestation of divine life. He believed that every act of kindness, every moment of compassion, every heartbeat of selfless affection connects us to the immortal. Thus, to love abundantly is not merely to live more happily — it is to live more divinely, to awaken the eternal within the mortal.

The ancients would have recognized this truth well. They saw that the universe itself is an act of love — the sun warming the earth, the rivers nourishing the fields, the stars shining not for themselves but for the eyes that behold them. In this harmony, they glimpsed the sacred pattern that Drummond later described: that life exists to love, and love sustains life. To live without love is to breathe without spirit, to walk without direction, to exist without meaning. But to love — abundantly, unreservedly — is to join in the eternal dance of creation, where every act of giving becomes a renewal of being.

History, too, gives us its witnesses. Consider Mahatma Gandhi, whose love for truth and humanity transformed not only a nation but the conscience of the world. His life was not defined by power or wealth but by abundant love — a love that forgave enemies, that embraced suffering, that believed in the goodness of every soul. Though his body perished, his spirit did not. His love lives on, eternal, rippling through generations. In him we see the truth of Drummond’s words: to love forever is to live forever — for love outlasts the flesh, conquers time, and makes mortal lives immortal.

But Drummond’s teaching is not reserved for saints or heroes; it belongs to all who dare to love without fear. To love abundantly means to pour oneself into life with generosity — to give without counting, to forgive without limit, to serve without expectation. It is to love not only those who return our affection, but also those who cannot, or will not. For in loving others, we awaken the divine life within ourselves. And when we love forever — when our love is constant through hardship, age, and change — we step beyond the boundaries of time itself.

Yet there is wisdom in balance. To love abundantly does not mean to lose oneself in the world, but to expand the self into something greater. Just as the sun does not burn itself out by shining, neither does the heart exhaust itself by loving rightly. The more we love, the more we are renewed, for love is a self-replenishing flame. It does not diminish when shared; it grows brighter, spreading its light into the lives of others. And in that brightness, the soul discovers its immortality.

So, my children of the living heart, remember this: to love abundantly is to live abundantly. Do not let your days be small, measured by fear or pride. Let love overflow — in words, in actions, in silence. Love your friends, love your enemies, love the broken parts of the world and the weary parts of yourself. For each time you love, you expand the boundaries of your life, and when your life becomes filled with love, death itself will have no claim on you.

For in the end, Henry Drummond’s wisdom stands as the eternal law of the soul: “To love abundantly is to live abundantly, and to love forever is to live forever.” Love is the seed and the harvest, the flame and the light, the beginning and the end. Live, then, in love — and you shall never truly die, for love itself is life everlasting.