What is love?

We always tell the ones we love "I love you", but have you ever th ought about what it means when you say that? Can love be defined? Here's my attempt to define it in my own words: It's giving a piece of your spir it to someone you deem worthy to receive it, not always because of something the y did to deserve it, but because of their inherent value as a person. In the Bib le Jesus said we must love our enemies because even the pagans love those who lo ve them. So that would mean love isn't just a feeling or giving of ourselves to those who we're in a close relationship with. Love to me is the willingness to give my time, energy, possessions, and thoughts to someone else because of a desire to change their life for the better. It's a genuine and sincere concern for the soul of another person and the desire to he lp them as much as possible. If you believe in Heaven then it's a desire to get them to Heaven, if you don't, it's a desire to help them achieve their full pote ntial here on Earth and have peace and happiness in their life. It's a willingness to sacrifice for them in any condition and regardless of what they've done for you. It's having a completely open mind and heart while being realistic and not enabling people and letting them take advantage of your kindne ss and generosity. Ultimately, it's the willingness to give of oneself completely to another. That' s why it's said that God is love, because God consists of 3 distinct people with one essence or nature that share that essence with each other completely. In th e Bible when Jesus said we should love one another as He loves us, He meant we s hould love each other the way God loves, which is by giving our essence or natur e completely to another without any boundaries or limitations and regardless of physical appearance, attraction, and feelings or sensations. This is what I beli eve to be true love. That brings me to the question of why we should love, espec ially in the cases where we get nothing in return: My answer is because God taug ht us to be this way and led by the example of Jesus, who loved even his enemies unconditionally on the cross. We should love because in giving our mind, body, and spirit to another completely, we're simply returning the gift of life to it' s proper owner, the one who gave it to us in the first place, God our Creator. L ife was God's gift to each one of us, and by giving ours to another person we're giving the ultimate honor and glory to God by being a witness to that fact to t he world. Finally, how do we prove to God that we love Him, besides avoiding sin and praying? By loving others, who are created in His image and likeness. Somet imes we'll be rewarded for it in this life, sometimes we won't, but for those wh o love with all their spirit in this life, a great reward awaits them in the nex t life. Next time you tell someone "I love you", ask yourself if you're saying all these things to them, and if you aren't, what are you saying to them, if anything? updatedLove is a renunciation of the self and of one's ego for the sake of another pers on. It's an action or decision that says to another, "I value you more than mys elf, and your life is more important than mine". Updated 11/23 Love is a bond between two people that is initially created by their attraction and things they have in common, and their needs that each fulfill. They then st rengthen that bond over time by their interactions and time spent together, and truly knowing each other. Love is the process by which you can lose everything you have in life, or reach your mental breaking point and are so broken that you no longer care about anything else in life, except the person you love. It's w hen you've lost all your passions, desires, and interests in life and don't care about yourself or your own life and goals, yet you still care about the wellbei ng of this person, regardless of what happens to you. Love is the property you have that allows you to pass the ultimate test of a human relationship, when you

don't care if everyone else leaves you cause they don't care about you enough t o stick with you through the worst of times when you can't give them what they w ant, but you still care if the one you love leaves you. You can't live without them even though you've lost the desire of living itself because your relationsh ip with them only has gotten stronger as you've grown weaker and everything else in your life has fallen apart or disappeared. This is because both of you have realized how much you need each other and how much this relationship adds to yo ur life, and how you couldn't live without it. The person you love has become a part of you now, so losing them would be like losing your own soul. Just like with God, the weaker we get, the stronger He gets and the closer we become to Hi m, so it is with the person we truly love in this world. The qualities of that person and the unconditional love they have for us grow stronger to compensate f or our weakness and fill the void our suffering leaves in our soul. That person 's love takes the place of all the other people, passions, goals, and desires we had and thus becomes stronger because it no longer has to compete with all thos e things for room in our heart, but also, it holds us together and props us up u ntil our spirit can be restored. In this way, through the fire of tribulation and extreme suffering and doubt, love between two people can be made clear and p ure. It's a sure way to determine what people in your life truly love you, and vice versa. The ones who don't will all leave you eventually because the bond y ou share with them just isn't strong enough to bear the weight of extreme suffer ing. That kind of bond can only be created from true, unconditional love, the k ind of love that's willing to go through anything, even death for the beloved. The people who didn't love you unconditionally needed or wanted something from y ou and gave you things in return, but once you're no longer able to give them th ose things (due to disease, stress, or any other crisis or suffering), they lack the incentive and thus the will to continue to give you things they gave you be fore (whether that's something as simple as time, energy, conversation, or more) . When a tornado comes along and wipes out your life to the point where your past, what stood there before, is either unrecognizable or completely gone, and you'r e standing on the rubble wondering what happened and what to do next, love can b e the only lifeline you have to rescue you. It gives you something to hold onto and helps you find the inner strength needed to move on and start picking up th e pieces of your life and rebuilding it from the ground up. Love is that light at the end of the tunnel, when you're traveling in darkness and you need somethi ng to give you hope and keep you on a steady path looking forward, unconditional love keeps you from falling into despair and reminds you that just as this pers on loves you so much even in your darkest hour, God loves you infinitely more. As long as you reach out to him, He'll bring a greater good out of the destructi on in your life, but you can't do it alone. You need someone to walk with you s tep by step. Love can help you reach your full potential and also allow you to then share that love with everyone else you meet in life. As long as there's lo ve, there's hope, and as long as there's hope, there's a way out of the darkness and into the light of your destiny.