Love

1-26-09

Love.

So what is love? How do you know if you have experienced it? To me I have discovered that it is in the same plane as becoming a Christian so to speak. You can learn about it. Talk about it. Even pretend to be an expert about it. But I can tell you that none of that will come close to the night that I took that step and surrendered my life to Christ. It’s something that I could never put into words. This is what comes to my mind when I consider love. It’s an experience that can’t truly be explained to someone who hasn’t experienced it.

There are all of the different words for different ‘levels’ of love in different languages. In Greek you have agape, eros, storge, thelema, and philia. Then there is raya, ahava and dod in Hebrew. I know that I could go on and on. I heard someone call philia love the ‘phooey’ love because it’s a more superficial love. But is it really?

It’s interesting that in English we just have the one word, love. So what is it? What does it look like? Is it the love they are seeking on The Bachelor/Bachelorette? What about what the sexually driven ‘love’ portrayed on shows such as ‘Two and a Half Men’ or ‘Sex and the City’. Is deep true love even sexual? It could be argued that it is by some of those afore mentioned words that I listed. But I don’t think so. That is all so superficial.

What about throwing the word around for inanimate objects. I just LOVED that cheesecake. I LOVE that color on you. I LOVE my new car. Is that true love? Or just great appreciation?

What about love at first sight? I was talking to a friend recently and was relayed a story of a couple that knew they were meant for each other within 2 months. Not to say that isn’t possible but I’m a skeptic. To me it seems that it’s infatuation that will possible lead into true deep love. Obviously there needs to be a foundation for love to be built on. Each time you love you give a bit of yourself away. You make yourself vulnerable. Obviously you wouldn’t want to be doing that with every stranger that you meet on the street.

I have been thinking about love a lot lately. I do love someone. I love them so deeply that it hurts. I love them even though I’m not loved back. Am I crazy? I think not. True love stands firm. Sadly I thought it was mutual. But how can you really know someone? This I’m still trying to figure out. How can you know if the other party knows what love is themselves? How does one get to this point where they give their love away? It’s a slow and interesting process. One could get jaded in situations like this. But it’s a process that I wouldn’t turn back if given the chance. I would walk this road over and over again.

To me love is everlasting. Love is not just reserved for a spouse. Love is something God created that dwells within us. We were instructed by Christ that it is the greatest commandment. So there must be a reason that true love holds on through the pain. There must be a reason that true love speaks the truth in all things. Even when you know it will drive a stake in the heart of the one you love. Even when you know it will drive an even bigger stake through your heart. So I must to be true to this love that I profess. Someday I pray you will see my heart for what it is.

Just hang on. Have patience. Be still and know that I am God. A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.  Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. And it goes on and on.

This is what we have lost in this informationally driven world. People focus on facts and stats. Not on true feelings. Love is a choice that we make. Sometimes it might not be rational or even make sense. I choose to love through the pain. I choose to love till the end. Relationships take actions on both sides but love can stand firm if even on one side. God knows why.

So all I can say is, here I stand. I LOVE YOU… and I mean it. I can love someone like you because you are beautiful. I love you because I want to. I love you as you are. I love the real you.  I love you and wouldn’t change anything that I have said or done. I have done it in love. I now know what my parents meant when they told me as I was getting a spanking that it hurt them more than me. They told me that they were doing it because they loved me. I now finally know 20 some years later what they meant. Love is a crazy thing. I’m glad that I have had a chance to experience it to this level this early in my life. Who knows where it will take me… but God knows… so that is all that matters.

If I had to pick one of those words to inadequately describe even a piece of my love it would be Ahava. It is a love of the will deeper and more profound than just fleeting romantic feelings. It is the commitment involved in making a relationship work. It is a deep affection and desire that is unquenchable, a wish to be with the other person that makes your heart ache.

So AHAVA with all my heart.