! ! This Life Is 'On Approval'

Is ‘approve’ another word for ‘love’? So that, when we say ‘I love you! ’ there’s the sense, ‘It’s good – I’m glad – that you are in this world! – that you exist! ’ – so that, to love, becomes an act of will; creative affirmation? The sense of holiness; and music; sunlight; lemon curd – from these, ‘approval’ stretches out a list that may be boundless, as it sings them into praise; approving even dreams into reality: as if to kneel, self to self, with God and, eye to eye, both say, ‘I’m glad that you exist..’ * [leaning gratefully on the writings of Josef Pieper]