We’ve looked at what love is not. Now let’s look at what love is. One of the best descriptions ever written about love comes from the bible- from 1 Corinthians 13. These are words often read at wedding ceremonies.
‘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-seeing, 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 perseveres.’
In other words it is a selfless love, a giving love and very different much of the time from what we see around us in society. It is certainly different to what Hollywood presents as love in movies and TV shows.
In our marriage if we love someone we need to show those characteristics mentioned in 1 Corinthians 13 as much as possible.
Though I don’t know who it was, I think the person who said this got it right, ‘to love someone is to seek his or her best and highest good.’ It really sounds like a summary of the earlier passage about love.
Here’s another one from one of my favorite authors who writes a lot about love and how that is worked out in practice. ‘Love is more than three words mumbled before bedtime. Love is sustained by action, a pattern of devotion in the things we do for each other every day.’ – Nicholas Sparks. Don’t you love that idea of ‘a pattern of devotion?’
So love is so much a feeling but something borne out in actions. Love is not in what we say as much as it is in what we do. It shows in the daily pattern of our lives. When people see or experience real love, they know. It’s unmistakable.
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