What is Love?

It’s February, and the 14th day of this month is noted “Lovers day". It has been this way since AD 500. There are stories which come in different versions that tell how this day was originated, and I just say go with any story that appeals to you the most! I personally think it’s cute the little things people do for each other on Valentine’s Day, the flowers, cards, candy, surprises and all of that stuff. I remember very clearly the note in the card I got from my last valentine a line said "I know the smallest things matter the most to you, so I hope this card means a lot to you" another line said "I hope to make your next valentine bigger and better". Hahahaha too bad there wasn’t a "Next" valentine for both of us. At that time, I really thought what I had was love and I expected it to last for a long time if not forever. I guess my definition of love at that time was having a guy call u 'BABY', spend every leisure with you, call you every now and then, say sweet things to you and just be next to you at every point you need a shoulder to lean on. I saw love as mainly a boy/girl or man/woman affair and also meeting someone or seeing a person of the opposite sex that makes your heart skip, or makes you have butterflies in your tummy is when you know you have found love. Hummmm how ignorant! As years went by, and I flashed back to the situations I saw as "love", I realized that that it couldn’t be love and there really should be more to it that what I assumed. I began to research and question love question love, which is the reason for this note today. What really is this thing called Love? The first response I get every time I ask this question is 1 Corinthians 13:4-7"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres". I thought of this verse as very interesting, I remember me saying “This is deep mehn!” And I thought if this is the definition of genuine love, have I really ever loved and have I ever been loved? I read further about love and I discovered love was in categories, first the love known as "erotic love". It is based on strong feelings toward another, which is usually between a man and a woman. The second was Philos love which is the kind of love based on friendship between two people regardless of their sex. And lastly, Agape love, which is the greatest love of all. It is a love that is completely selfless. It is where a person gives out love to another person without any anticipated reward. Whether the love given is returned or not, the person continues to love and has no self benefit. Its interesting how much I did not know about love and how much detail I had always left out about it. I tried to categorize my love for the people close to me that is family and friends. It was a little hard for me because I could not decide who I wanted to put where. I can honestly say that at some point in my life love has failed me, having no fatherly love, having a friend disappoint me, having a romantic relationship that didn’t last and so on. I wondered how I had made it through in all this situations and not until then did it dawn on me that love could only be whatever it is that Christ has for me, because that is the only love I can honestly say has never failed me. I remember as a child I doubted the love my mother has for me whenever I am being scolded and not until I matured and was exposed to the reality of life did I realized that it is love and I should be thankful for it, and on the other hand, that love cannot lay her life for me. Christ laid his life for me, his love showed me light in darkness, it believed in me when I thought I couldn’t amount to anything, it was with me even in my unfaithfulness and when I was unworthy of it, it gave me faith when I lacked confidence, it showed me beauty when I saw otherwise, it gave me hope when I though all was gone and it loved me even before I knew me. I have had love with me all my life and failed to realize, I have come to the conclusion that there isn’t a definition for love. Love is what you call it; love is what it is, To Yimidivine LOVE IS CHRIST AND CHRIST IS LOVE.