Love?! Love is...

Love?... Love!

All people have the same basic human needs and basic human motivations, and love is often a natural response when our needs and motivations are understood and respected. 

It might be human nature to reflect the emotions of others and act as others act. But considering the state of the average media reporting and social media rage, our loved ones deserve better, and our future deserves better. There are guarantees in life including challenges (Jn 10:10 and 16:33), opportunities (Gal 6:10 and Eph 5:15-17), and choices (Gen 1:27-28, Pro 18:21, Ro 12:2, and Gal 5:16). Love is a choice, and the first fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22).

Some good Bible verses about love include John 3:16, 1 Corinthians 13:1-13, 1 Corinthians 16:14, and Romans 8:38-39. 

Love is related to positivity, which is not happiness. Being happy is based on the present moment, while being positive is based on deeper held internal beliefs. Being positive is proven to help us be more resilient, think better, and make better choices. 

We can stand our ground, and holdfast to our beliefs, while still being positive and loving those who disagree with us. Emotions and feelings are contagious and influence thoughts, words, and actions. If people can hate others without getting to know them, the opposite is true, people can love others without getting to know them. Nothing requires us to return hate for hate. Hate makes our responsibilities heavier to bear, while love lightens our load. 

Love is not rewarding bad behavior, it is releasing resentment. Love is not giving up on justice, or our right to self-defense. However, love does require some agreement on a definition of justice and self-defense. The more we love the less we need justice and self-defense. There is no love without forgiveness. Love is the cornerstone of all virtues, and renews all virtues, including respect and integrity. Some people might say love is a responsibility.

It is true, that loss, and the threat of loss, make it easy to hate. But, the more we resist hate, and love others, the more we make the world a better place. It is also true, the more our beliefs are grounded in truth, and the better we can communicate truthful beliefs in love, the more persuasive we are.

The evidence is clear… People are more likely to help others when they feel loved. It is not easy to change people’s hearts, but if anything can, love can. It is easier to love others if we love ourselves.

Love empowers us to connect who we are with who we can become, individually and collectively. Love equips us with the ability to transcend negative thoughts and emotions, and make them temporary passing winds. 

People respond better when they feel loved. 

Love is wanted and needed. 

Love is “the greatest.” 

Thoughts about love from some influential people… 

• All laws are fulfilled when we love God and love others (Jesus).

• We will not receive a good reward until we spend from that which we love (Mohammad).

• When we love others, love will be returned to us, this is karma (Hindu belief).

• You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere (Buddha) 

• It is easy to hate and difficult to love. This is natural. Good things are difficult to achieve, and bad things are easy (Confucious). 

• Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage (Lao Tzu).

• Let us greet each other with a smile, for the smile is the beginning of love (Mother Teresa).

• Where there is love, there is life (Mahatma Ghandi)

• I feel there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people (Vincent Van Gogh)

• She had dreamed how his coming would stir her soul, as the ocean is stirred by the wild storm's strife: He brought her the balm of a heavenly calm, and a peace which crowned her life. (Ella Wheeler Wilcox, excerpt from her poem, Love’s Coming).

• The truth as it is set into song by so many poets, proclaimed as the final wisdom by so many thinkers. The truth – that love is the ultimate and highest goal to which we can aspire (Viktor Frankl, from his book Man's Search for Meaning).