Love is a very odd thing. It's difficult to explain because it is beyond words. It is complex and simple at the same instant. Love can be something that makes you incredibly happy or it can be something that makes you incredibly sad. And the more experience I have, the more I'm convinced that there's not a whole lot about love that is up to you. Sometimes, you just can't change how you feel; once you've loved someone, I'm not sure it's possible to ever really stop loving them.
Oh sure, romance can die, it can fade away or be destroyed, I don't deny that. But I'm not talking about romance, I'm talking about love. The kind of love they talk about in the scriptures: charity and compassion towards another person. When you love someone, truly love them, it has nothing to do with lust or even a desire to be with them. It simply means that they've won a place in your heart. You genuinely care about their well-being, you want things to go well for them, and you mourn with them when things don't go well. And I believe that this kind of love can never really leave once it's found a home inside of you; not unless you or the other person has changed so much that you are completely different people.
If this was not so, why would so many people forgive the spouses who have cheated on them? Why would so many couples stay married for fifty years, working past the fights instead of throwing in the towel? Why would people who've broken up continue to have a friendship?
And love is not something you can control. Lots of people have found themselves full of love when they don't want to be. Children whose parents have abandoned them, brothers who've been betrayed . . . anyone who has been hurt by their love has wanted to be freed from it. Some fight it for years. But in the end, most of them find that their hearts are set, and they learn how to love that person in spite of what happened between them. This is usually when the healing happens.
Now, I don't want any of you thinking this post is about romantic love. Like I said before, it isn't. This is about the pure love of Christ, which we lucky mortals sometimes get to experience in our relationships with our fellow man. This is the love that siblings share, the love that neighbors share, the love that man and wife share, the love that friends share. This is the love that, if we let it into our hearts, could solve all the world's problems and bring us together in peace at last.
All you need is love.
3 comments:
Does is bother you that I heard that last line in a British accent, said in the exact way it's said in Yellow Submarine?
I don't know for sure that all you need is love, but it sure helps.
Nah. That's the way I heard it, too.
I like this a lot! You have the coolest blog Jessica! I love to read it!
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