Love Is…

Love Ain’t What I Thought…

So, today, I do have a lot to say on this topic and I will try to keep this as brief as possible – as this series of daily posts – I am not really planning on going to deep but this one hits hard so here we go.

I remember when I was in my first year of college English class, and our teacher assigned us a topic to write on, “love”, or more specifically “what is love?”

I honestly didn’t think much about it but as I started to try to write, I realized I really didn’t know what love was.

I hadn’t grown up in the church so I hadn’t heard about God’s saving & unconditional love.

My one extremely religious encounter was a Catholic orphanage that my sibling and I were placed in temporarily. I did not equate that experience to love. I’ll expound on that at a later time.

But, I honestly thought love was that butterfly feeling that we most often get when we meet someone and realize that we want to be around them all the time. The “ugh oh, I’m in love!” Thing. I’d had it a few times already at that age (19yrs old).

Sadly, I was influenced by and emulated the people who took care of me, and so I thought their relationship was love, even though it was highly dysfunctional.

So, I chased after the feeling of what I saw in them, in movies and MTV music videos and settled for less than healthy relationships for several years – thinking I was “loving” (and that they were too).

But back to the English paper…

Because I couldn’t put it into words, I went to the dictionary and wrote about what it said love was.

At nineteen years old, I just hadn’t learned and unfortunately that showed in the terrible relationship choices I made – for years – and my English paper.

No surprise, I failed the assignment.

I’m sure the teacher could see I really had no idea how to write on the topic. It must’ve grieved her. And I wonder if she prayed for me because a few years later, at one of the lowest points of my life, I met Jesus. I met LOVE.

After that incredible encounter, I realized if I wanted to know what love was to look like in my life, how to love God, myself, and others, I needed to know more about who He was. Who He Is.

To know Him deeply and personally.

Bottom line: It’s more than a feeling. So much more. It’s happening even when you don’t feel it because you choose to DO it.

We choose to love others, even when we are frustrated by their behavior. We choose to love others when they mess up. We apply love. God’s love – THE LOVE that covers a multitude of wrongs, the Bible calls sin. The LOVE we receive first from Him. And they do the same for us.

Then, we get a glimpse of God’s LOVE, here on earth.

Please note, there’s no time in this particular blog to go deep into dysfunctional, and even worse types of situations in relationships. But I will say, sometimes part of loving someone is letting them go, especially if the situation is extremely unhealthy for us (and them).

So how about you? Have you ever had a similar view of love? Have you come to the realization that love really is not feeling? But an action word? A daily commitment? An emulating of the LOVE that God has for us? I want to hear from you. Post a comment below and let’s have the conversation ♥️.

For additional reading: 1 Corinthians 13, John 3:16, actually, start with the book of John – he describes Who Jesus is 🤍.