" For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land. " Song of Solomon

February 14, 2008

WHAT IS LOVE?



As a teenage girl I used to ponder how to define love---what is it? I asked different people to define it for me---to explain it. Nothing satisfying came forth from my quest. Finally I did get an answer to my query. It is, to my thinking, the best definition I've encountered and is excerpted below---it comes from the Bible. It is posted here in the New International Version.

It is not so much a definition though, but more of a description. It makes me think of the saying "pretty is as pretty does". We all know that no matter how lovely a thing appears outwardly, if it acts ugly, it ceases to be pretty.

In the same vein we can tell someone we love them, but if our behavior contradicts our words, the words become meaningless and empty and thereby void.

1 Corinthians 13

1) If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2) If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3) If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

4) Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5) It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6) Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7) It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8) Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9) For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10) but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11) When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12) Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13) And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
"....there have been many times when I have shed bitter tears, when if I had understood the situation better, I would have celebrated my good luck instead."

DISCLAIMER

I am not a doctor and all information, suggestions, etc are my personal opinion only.