Learning to Love

I want to write on a subject that some people think is a sensitive topic; however, I just want to put it all out there. I want to talk about love. I used to be the type of person to say that the “l-word” was overused and people only said it to describe whatever shallow feelings they may have been feeling at the moment they decided to let it flow out of their parted lips. I say this because I truly feel people will say it in order to achieve something – sex, money, a false-sense of security, status, etc. It was used as a mechanism by some in order to take advantage of a person and his or her feelings. With that said, as a Christian, I don’t think it’s used enough. I say this because God is love and He teaches us to love, love one another, love our friends, as well as our foes. When I say love, I mean pure, unadulterated love – love that has no bounds or stipulations. First Corinthians Chapter 13 spells it out. It wasn’t intended for relationship-type love between two people involved, but the type of love you should have for everyone. We need to love everyone, regardless of how they’ve hurt us or treated us.

13 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.

² If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.
^3-7 If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

I just want to leave saying I love you all. ♥