Here are three versions of one Collect, that was originally translated from the Latin of the ancient Gelasian Sacramentary by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer for the first English Prayer Book published in 1549.

“God [the Father], which hast prepared to them that love thee such good things as pass man’s understanding; Pour into our hearts such love toward thee, that we loving thee in all things, may obtain thy promises, which exceed all that we can desire. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”
( The Book of the Common Prayer, 1549, Trinity VI)

“O God [the Father], who hast prepared for them that love thee such good things as pass man’s understanding: pour into our hearts such love towards thee, that we, loving thee above all things, may obtain thy promises, which exceed all that we can desire, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”
( The Book of Common Prayer, 1662, Trinity VI)

“O God [the Father], who hast prepared for those who love thee such good things as pass man’s understanding: Pour into our hearts such love towards thee, that we, loving thee in all things and above all things, may obtain thy promises, which exceed all that we can desire; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.”
(American Prayer Book, 1979, Easter 6)

It will be noted that there was a significant change made for the 1662
edition of The Book of Common Prayer. The expression, “loving thee in all things,” was changed to “loving thee above all things.” And noting this, and wanting the best of both forms, the American revisers in the 1970s provided “loving thee in all things and above all things.”

Probably “loving thee in all things” carries two areas of meaning. First, it points to doing all our duties and fulfilling our vocation on earth as unto the Lord. That is doing everything as if we were actually doing it to please the Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly, it surely also points to that advanced state of submission to God’s ways and providence and of consecration to His will, where the believer is able to praise God in sincerity whatever is his lot in life, in pain and joy, in trial and tribulation, in want and in plenty.

In contrast, “loving thee above all things” is keeping the first table of
the Ten Commandments to worship God alone and of fulfilling the command to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and soul and mind and strength. It is that state of soul wherein there is no trace of idolatry but only the turning of the mind, the will and the affections to the Lord God. “You cannot serve God and mammon” and “No man can serve two masters.”

Love is a word with many shades of meaning today. The ancient world knew about “philia” or friendship; “eros” or sexual love; and “storge” or the loyal love that holds and binds families together. But it had little conception of “agape” (Latin “caritas”) or the love which proceeding from within the donor gives itself unreservedly for the good of the recipient (see 1 Corinthians 13).

The Collect has in mind “agape” and “caritas” (thus KJV “charity”). This arises in the soul is focused by the mind, is energized by the will and carries along with it the affections. It has in mind only the true good of the one upon whom it focuses. Such love is the gift of God to those who are united to His Son by faith and in hope, but it has to be exercised by the recipient.