I know what you're thinking. "Oh boy. The '
L' word.
Here we go...."Well
ok then. Let's go. :)
Ok so I'm just gonna set the stage by stating the this whole idea of love is a big deal. Probably, the biggest deal if you think about it long and hard enough. And yet, it's amazing to me how something so vital and so important to the human soul, something that has been made perfect and can heal and cover anything... can be so manipulated, twisted, and perverted. I'd have to give those props to Satan I suppose... actually props might not be the right word now that I think about it... (I take it back.)
Anyways.
Welcome to the world.
Since we're living in it now, let's go ahead and take a look at the worlds' definition of love... (and what better way to find out what the world thinks than:::: google.) :)
If you google "love," this is what you will find:
- First, a picture of a big fat red heart (Accuracy people) and a picture of two people kissing. (true love.)
- Next, is a bunch of random college students (who think they know everything about everything)'s definition of love (aka... wikipedia.com) Stating, and I quote, "Love is any number of emotions and experiences related to a strong sense of affection." (... interesting.)
- And finally, my favorite, a link that says "The Love Calculator" - an online "calculator" that calculates the chances of a successful relationship between you and another person. (Welcome to 2008 people.)
... So there you have it.
Of course, since google is just oh-so amazing, there are thousands of pages that can connect you to even MORE sites about true, wordly, Americanized love: Online Dating, the LOVE nightclub in NYC, quotes and poems about love, "wikihow - How to Love," lovetests, and I'm sure you can even find a nice porno site in that search somewhere.
But... it doesn't end there.
Turn on the radio, any time of day to any station, and I GUARANTEE you you will hear a song that has something to do with love (or loss of love); whether it's NeYo singing about how he lives because of you, Taylor Swift singing about the teardrops on her guitar, Kelly Clarkson singing about how life is great since you've been gone, Rihanna singing about how you can stand under her umbrella, Donna Lewis singing about how she'll love you "always forever," and the Beatles belief that, "All you need is love..."
So according to these general observations... apparently "love" is something our society is, for lack of a better word, obsessed with. People sing about, write about it, want to learn about it, are constantly looking for it, and in a sense, can't live without it. People need love. It's that simple. However... we'll have to clarify the definition of love a little bit.
So... is love a feeling? Is it just an emotion like everything else; anger, sadness, joy? Can you technically "make" love? Does that imply that love is just sex and nothing else? Or is it bigger than that? Is love the feeling you get when you have 2083 butterflies flying around in your stomach?
Well, I'm sure some may say it's a feeling. I'd like to believe it's a little more than that.
Some say "Love is a Verb." (Actually I think it was just DC Talk who said that... but I can see where they're coming from.)
I've also heard different things about love, from some place other than the secular society:
- Love is patient, and always kind.
- Love is NEVER envious, never boastful, never proud, rude, or selfish.
- It keeps no records of wrongs. (Wow thats huge.)
- Love doesn't delight in evil but rejoices in TRUTH.
- Love always protects.
- Love always trusts.
- Love always hopes.
- Love always perseveres.
Another way of putting this (from the Message Version) is:
- Love never gives up.
- Love cares more for others than for self.
- Love doesn't want what it doesn't have. (wowww.)
- Love doesn't strut, Doesn't have a swelled head, Doesn't force itself on others.
- Love never says "me first."
- Love doesn't fly off the handle.
- Love doesn't keep score of the sins of others.
- Doesn't revel when others grovel.
- Love takes pleasure in the flowering of truth.
- Love puts up with anything.
- Love trusts God always. ****
- Love always looks for the best, never looks back, but keeps going to the end.
.... I like that. :)
I think it's so sad that love - true, pure love that is patient, kind, unselfish, trusting, hoping, persevering - has been so secularized in today's society, specifically in my generation and the generations behind me. It's been diminished to, pretty much sex.
Unbelievable to me.
While yes, I do think physical contact does play a pretty big role in the relationship you have with someone you love... there HAS to be more than that. There has to be. It can't be all about sex.
Prostitution, for instance, can't be the number one calling in life and can't be the ultimate "love job" so to speak. Does that make sense?
No I think it's more. Why do I think it's more?
Because I've seen and felt love for people in SO many different ways than just a physical touch.
I think love is a regard for someone else's well-being.
I think when you love someone, you literally want whats best for them at whatever cost - even if it costs your life.
I think "Falling in love" with someone, and I don't mean this 7th grade - pass the note - check yes/no- hold hands at lunch and kiss between classes type of falling in love - can probably be the best feeling in the world.
Think about it.
For (probably) once in your life, you are completely in love with a person to the point where you want to give whatever you have to make them happy. For once you (hopefully) feel completely compelled to give your life up for someone else.
Amazing.
"Greater love has no one than
to lay down his life for his friend..."
I've also heard something that's always, ALWAYS stuck in my head. That is that love is a commitment, it's a decision you make.
For instance, say you fall in love and end up marrying the person. As what happens most marriages... things get a little rough. It's so easy to just give up and quit on everything and get mad at the spouse.
The person used the example of when you're in a fight, you may be thinking about the other spouse something like this:
"You know what, I really really don't like you right now. You're being
ridiculous, not making any sense at all, and you're really not my favorite
person in the world to be around right now. Actually I don't like you one bit to
be honest. But, even though I may not like you right now, I love you. I'm
committed to you, I made a promise to you, and I love you."
.... it's a decision, & a commitment. And a very nice thing when you find a way to mesh all those things together.
I keep coming back to Pauls' definition of love tho. I really in my heart can't seem to separate that from being truth. He hits it head on. Love's patient. (Probably one of my biggest struggles.) Love is all those things that he mentioned.
God is the author of love. He IS love, in its complete entirety. Nothing we can do can separate us from His love, because it's everlasting to everlasting. It was there before we cam to be, and will be there regardless of anything. It's unconditional. (Lucky us huh?) And I believe it's the only thing that makes us truly complete.
I think it's impossible to really love something, really truly LOVE something, apart from God. He IS love, therefore if we don't have Him, we can't have that true love. Yet at the same time, when He does woo us into an amazing lovestory with Him, it's the most amazing, humbling, satisfying thing we will ever encounter in our lives and thus, finally, we are truly complete.
Nothing that the world at this time has to offer could ever measure up, I really don't care what it is. Sex. Boyfriends. Porn. Being skinny. Being hot. Being famous. Being rich. None of those things will ever complete you... so stop trying ya know? The times when I feel most satisfied in life is when my heart fully turns upwards towards the Lord and I am at a state of mind that acknowledges the fact that I really am NOTHING without Him. So humbling, so necessary...
Sometimes I think it's so hard to get to that point in your life tho, when you truly can grasp that. God sometimes seems so hard to find and so far away.
Welcome to the world right? Well, go ahead and look around at your world. What do you see? :: Rape. Violence. Murder. War. Pain. Tears. Satan in his prime. :( It's sad huh? It really, really is. But if we listen, apart from what the world is telling us about love, apart from our own fleshly, selfish desires of love (that can somtimes even be confused with Lust...) Then we'll know. We'll find it.
So. Every so often - maybe more often than I'd like to think - a little miracle takes place when human creativity manages to depict some faint but totally accurate reflection of something ridiculously, maybe even fearsomely true. And when I witness or hear or read something like that, I experience something like the dropping of a pin inside me. It's like my innate intuition and at times retarded yearnings are an echo, and for a brief lil' nanosecond I hear them next to the original sound and everything starts to make sense. To be honest, I mostly will feel that way when I read C.S. Lewis or the Bible, or when I play old hymns or listen to certain Sara Groves songs. But I think revelation in its entirety to be a two edged sword: a quite miraculous thing which can bring one both comfort and isolation, and maybe even a state of mind that really makes you stop liking yourself.
In Blue Like Jazz, by Donald Miller, I have found a true friend. His book has really been something that's rocked my life and could even be classified as one of those pin-dropped miracles. He's honest, open, real, hilarious, and after spending countless hours pouring my gaze over each page and really soaking it all in, I learned a lot about God. I began to see Him in a different light, to see His Word from a different perspective. It truly is amazing. So ya. We'll leave the last note to the author. And in the meantime... allow the Spirit to being a work in us, causing us to revel, learn, and yearn for a love that is so vital and true. A love that completes, never ends, and can only be found in God Himself - the author and finisher. Praise Jesus:)
("Blue Like Jazz", copyright 2003 by Donald Miller, Thomas Nelson Publishers, please don't sue me):
"I never liked jazz music because jazz music doesn't resolve. But I was outside
the Bagdad Theater in Portland one night when I saw a man playing saxophone.
I stood there for fifteen minutes, and he never opened his eyes. After that
I liked jazz music. Sometimes you have to watch somebody love something
before you can love it yourself. It is as if they are showing you the way. I
used to not like God because God didn't resolve. But that was before any of
this happened... In America, the first generation out of slavery invented
jazz music. It is a free-form expression. It comes from the soul, and it is
true."
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Listening to: Sara Groves "When It was Over." - gooood stuff - Hillsong United "Look to You."
Reading: AW Tozer - "Pursuit of God." - incredible... I think everybody should read this book at least once. And then one/two more times after that.
