Treasure the love you receive above all. It will survive long

“Treasure the love you receive above all. It will survive long after your good health has vanished.” Thus spoke Og Mandino, a man who rose from despair to greatness through faith, gratitude, and the power of human connection. His words shine like a lantern in a darkened world — a reminder that love is the one wealth that neither time, nor illness, nor death can destroy. All else fades: strength, beauty, fortune, even health. But love, once given and received with sincerity, endures beyond the body, beyond the years, beyond the grave itself.

Mandino’s wisdom was not born in comfort, but in struggle. Once homeless and broken, he found his salvation not in wealth or worldly success, but in the kindness of others — in the simple, radiant love that restored his faith in life. It was through this awakening that he came to understand what the ancients had long known: that the greatest treasure a person can hold is not gold, nor power, but affection freely given and deeply felt. For health, however precious, belongs to the flesh; love belongs to the soul.

The ancients spoke often of this truth. Cicero, the Roman orator, declared that “life without friendship is no life at all.” Socrates taught that love is the bridge between the mortal and the divine. The poets of every age have sung that while youth and health fade, love alone grows brighter in the twilight of life. For what sustains the weary traveler in his final days is not his strength, but the warmth of those who walked beside him — the memory of hands that held his, of hearts that shared his burdens.

Consider the story of Helen Keller, who, though blind and deaf from infancy, lived a life more luminous than many who see and hear. Deprived of her health and physical faculties, she found in her teacher Anne Sullivan a love that transcended the body — a love that gave her not sight, but vision; not hearing, but understanding. Their bond became her light, her language, her liberation. When Keller later said, “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched — they must be felt with the heart,” she was echoing Mandino’s truth: that love endures where the body fails, and in that endurance lies the soul’s immortality.

For health is the fortune of the moment, but love is the wealth of eternity. The strong will one day grow frail, the swift will slow, and the beautiful will wrinkle like parchment. Yet the heart that has known love will never grow poor. The memory of it lingers even when strength departs — a quiet light in the mind, a pulse of warmth that keeps the spirit alive. When Mandino tells us to “treasure the love you receive above all,” he bids us to awaken to this sacred truth: that love, not vitality, is what makes a life truly whole.

Many live as though their bodies will never fail, as though their health is a fortress. They build lives on ambition and neglect the bonds that give meaning to all labor. But when sickness comes — and it always does — they find that the embrace of a loved one brings more healing than any medicine. The wise, therefore, build their treasures not in strength or possessions, but in hearts. They give love freely, receive it humbly, and in doing so, they store up a wealth that no decay can touch.

So, dear seeker, let this be your teaching: Treasure the love you receive above all. Cherish it while you can still feel the warmth of another’s hand, for one day your body will weaken, and only that warmth will remain. Speak kindly to those you cherish. Offer gratitude to those who care for you. Forgive quickly, embrace often, and do not measure your worth by your vigor, but by your capacity to love and be loved. For when your health fades — as it must — it is love that will sustain your spirit, love that will outlive your body, and love that will carry your name softly through the generations.

Practical actions for the seeker: Each day, give thanks for at least one act of love you receive — a word, a smile, a gesture. Return it in kind. Do not delay reconciliation where there is estrangement; the hour grows shorter than we think. Visit the sick, comfort the weary, share a meal with the lonely. And when you lie down at night, remember: your health may fade, your achievements may pass, but every act of love endures — like a star that burns long after its light has left the sky.