What is love?

What is love? What does it mean? How do you do it? Is it open to interpretation?

All age old questions that no one knows the answers to. No one in the world knows what love is. Only one person does and He is teaching us.

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.

That sounds like no feeling I’ve ever felt. We equate love with that feeling you get when you see her walk by and when he says hello to you. It’s a broken equation. The love that Christ proclaims takes so much work. And don’t think I’m on some kind of soapbox. I’m the first one on the sign-up sheet. I’d be lying to you and myself if I claimed I had a clue how to love like this. But gosh, do I want to.

I enjoy a pretty face and long walks and holding hands just as much as any other guy but how many of us are looking for something beyond that? What happens when all the butterflies are set free? What happens when life throws you a curve? What happens when life gets serious? Are we just seeking out a lot of feel-good times that fade away or are we seeking a future, something lasting? What does it really mean to love someone else? How much do we love her without makeup, when her hair isn’t just perfect, when she first rolls out of bed? In turmoil? In struggle? What if you’re not the one? Do you love her enough to let her go? How many of us are in it for the long haul? Is there a future in sight?

I swear, it can’t be about feelings. It’s just not true. They sweep us off our feet like a rushing river but we always end up washed up on the bank gasping for air. In twenty years’ time all of a sudden you find that you aren’t as hot as you used to be, you have kids, and you’re settled down. What difference did all those feelings make? Sure, enjoy them, but live for them? Are they the end in itself? How could they be? After they’re gone, what remains? Something lasting? Does true love fade with the color of hair and the tone of skin? Does it shrivel up with our faces or does it remain in our hearts?

I’m looking for something more than what this world has to offer. I want something of meaning, to live for someone else than just myself. How much meaning does a life lived for yourself contain anyway? Jesus Christ, help me to step up to the plate right now while I’m still young and be the man you want me to be.