This Is Love...
Love is not just a romantic experience like that in the book Romeo and Juliet, ”Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say good night till it be morrow.” ― William Shakespeare. But there are also great friendships of love like that of David and Jonathan – 1st Samuel 18:1, “And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.” Along with having love for each other, people are also consumed with the love of material things. Sadly there are those who are totally in love with themselves.
Love in its purest form, can inspire and strengthen a person to achieve the unconceivable for themselves, and for those dearest to their heart. Within Christianity, agape love is considered to be the love originating from God for mankind. It is fulfilled in the New Testament, and refers to the covenant love of His greatest creation (mankind). It also represents the human reciprocal love for God.
Puppy love is defined as mild infatuation, or a crush for the immature that is temporary. But a deep seasoned love that takes time to grow through all the trials and growing pains of life, can still be rocked by the devices of warfare assigned to all healthy forms of love. There are friendships that have gone so wrong that to some, speaking to each other is “not” an option. Sadly, there are marriages that have been destroyed after a couple have been together for many years, and the children unfortunately are used as pawns in the battle of the parents.
In the words of Eleanor Roosevelt, “The giving of love is an education in itself”. What a profound enlightenment of love analyzed! Let us, the students of love consider how love is taught. If we seek for an equation to produce the right answer for love, we would have to ask the following questions: Who loves me? Who do I love? Why do I love whom I love? And why am I loved by whomever loves me? Every attribute of love expressed between mankind comes from God. This is no surprise here, but as humans we try to capitalize on love by trying to own what belongs to God - “God is love” (1 John 4:8).
As mothers, we tell our babies, “Mommy loves you”. We hug them and give them kisses. After months of this behaviour, the child begins to identify the word ‘love’ and begins to associate it with the action of hugs and kisses. The lesson of love continues as the child grows older, and new elements of love are added to the experience. The knowledge gained, is that love must exist in the face of challenges and difficulties; we must continue to be kind despite the existing situation. The nature of love doesn’t entertain the attitude of wanting what everyone else has, and behaving poorly about it. Instead, it is gentle, kind, sensitive, polite and just down right good.
To master love is a life long lesson. There will be failures which will result in us going back to the drawing board, and working through the equations of life over again. Our first lesson is identifying what love is not, but most important of all, is leaving with the concluding answer of what love is.
Love is the breath of God!