Thursday, April 14, 2011

What is love?

So many people describe love as an emotion, and yes, of course it is. But guess what, Princess? It's only an emotion second. Love is an action first. Love is a choice that we make every day to everyone and everything we come into contact with. It's the decision to serve sacrificially and treat kindly and be abundantly patient with even the people we think we despise. If you don't believe me, think about it this way: You can't command an emotion. I can't say, "Be angry!" and have you honestly become angry at me, though you can pretend. But God commands us to love one another. That makes love more than an emotion. Another way of thinking about it: If someone tells you "I love you" but doesn't show it with his (or her, if you're a guy reading this!) actions, does it really mean anything? How do you feel? Is anything in your relationship with that person truly different? This is totally not to say that love isn't an emotion at all. I still get warm fuzzy feelings with the person I consider myself to be "in love" with. And it's definitely not to make the phrase "I love you" take on a less significant meaning. In fact, it's just the opposite. The fact that love is an action gives the term "love" even more of a meaning and shows us how deeply we need to care for someone in order to love them. It causes us to remember not to take the phrase "I love you" for granted and to understand what it means to love. You love someone through kindness, through patience, through willingly and sacrificially serving that person, even if you have no reason to do so. And the person God has in store for you in your future? He's the one who doesn't just say "I love you," but shows it, too!