Love is...

This morning the word love was uppermost in my thoughts. I decided it would make an interesting blog post. It took me a good part of my life to understand that love and sex are not the same thing. Perhaps I am a slow learner or maybe it had to do with the life experiences I chose. Anyway, today I know that true love has little to do with any organ below the heart.

Curious, I began poking around on the net to see what I could locate to back up my current belief. The first thing I found was this quote from 1 Corinthians 13:4-7: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud, it is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects always trusts, always hopes, always preserves.”

Often when I think of the word love I remember the 1970 award winning movie Love Story and its now famous quote, “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” This also brings back the memory of a Priest who focused an entire sermon on the words, because he was angry. Truthfully, I have never figured out what the writer Erich Segal intended them to mean. Why wouldn’t you say you are sorry if you really are?

Love for others is expressed in many ways. Random acts of kindness, sending a card or making a phone call just to say hello, a gentle hug or understanding smile when someone is having a tough day cost little, but they let others know that they are loved.

I found some great quotes on love that I want to share, beginning with this one from Og Mandino, “Do all things with love.”

“Love is how you stay alive, even after you are gone.” from Tuesday’s With Morrie~ Mitch Albom

“It is sad not to love, but much sadder not to be able to love.” ~Miguel de Unamuno

“For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul.” ~Judy Garland

“Love is always bestowed as a gift- freely, willingly and without expectation. We don’t love to be loved we love to love. ~Leo Buscaglio

“God is love”…and when you love you are like Him. ~St. John

I just couldn’t leave out the kids, because as Art Linkletter discovered years ago, they say the darnedest things. Perhaps we should listen to them!

“If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend you hate.” ~Nikka (6)

This story is about a 4 yr old whose neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had just lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the man’s yard, climbed onto his lap and just sat there. When his mother asked what he had said to the man the boy replied, “Nothing, I just helped him cry.” Wow! To be that loving!