Everyone tells you that when you love someone with all your heart…the love stays in your heart forever. I personally have found this statement to be true.
The emotion of love is amazing. There are all kinds of love. The love of a mother for her children is especially strong. The love from your father and grandparents is deep. The love towards your parents and relatives can help overcome conflicts and adversity. Love of friends can be measured in many different degrees.The love for your neighbors and co-workers can come and go depending on the level of involvement. The love of mankind can provide a positive outlook on ones life and help the world be a better place. The love of a family pet is the type of love imbedded in your heart. Then there is the love of God, of Jesus which for me is sewn into the very fabric of my heart.
The world appreciates love. Poets and authors have written about it for centuries. Every song writer has written at least one song on the subject. Love is a powerful emotion that affects us all similarly and yet differently. We can relate and envy each others experiences. Some people love easily while others struggle to give their hearts. There are those who do not know how to truly love selflessly. I feel that love is a learned emotion but you are never too old to learn how to love. I believe that love is the solution to PEACE ON EARTH.
I could go on and on as to the reasons that Peace on Earth will never happen until Heaven…but I mainly want to talk about everlasting love.
I have been fortunate to experience love from good friends. I cherish those friends and some I have known most of my life. I also have a large family and the love we share is the strongest kind of love in my life. Adversity in life has strengthened the love I share with others.
When I experience a loss of a loved one…the pain in my heart reminds me that they are in the very fabric of my heart. The love of my family and friends cover my heart and God has formed the structure. My heart must look like a quilt with no set pattern or form. Sometimes the love in my heart swells. I can feel it actually leap for Joy when I am experiencing love from someone dear.
My experiences in life has caused me to guard my heart, preventing toxic emotions from entering. You have heard the saying, ” Love the person…hate the sin”. I try to see the person behind the negative feeling…and continue to love them. I believe I am able to be somewhat successful at this… because of decades of practice. My heart also contains plenty of scars and slow healing wounds. The practice and application of Jesus teachings, help keep my heart in shape and open to experiencing more love. My purpose on this earth is to love others.
When pondering the heart…what an amazing organ…what an amazing gift. It is capable of containing endless amounts of love. It has the capacity to heal and become stronger. It produces large levels of compassion to others that seem to come from nowhere at times. It is capable of forgiveness many times over. The passion we have for so many things in life…stems from the heart. Love is exciting, invigorating, kind, and can create a sense of peace in our soul.
The Bible has been my best source of learning about love. Here is one of my favorite scriptures from the Apostle Paul.
” If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have the faith that says to a mountain, ‘Jump.” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t have love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.
Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. Love doesn’t strut, doesn’t have a swelled head. Doesn’t force itself on others, Isn’t always “me first,” Doesn’t fly off the handle, Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others, Doesn’t revel when others grovel.
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end, Love never dies.
Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the complete arrives, our in completes will be cancelled.
When I was an infant at my mother’s breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good. We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist.
But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God see us, knowing him directly use as he knows us! But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation:
Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is LOVE.”
I Corinthians 13 from THE MESSAGE
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I would like to add to my blog that LOVE should be unconditional. Acts of showing love should be unconditional with no strings attached. Give love without expecting anything in return. An example of that kind of love was when my brother Terry…heard that I was struggling financially because of not having a job-he gave me enough money to pay for two car payments. It wasn’t a loan. He presented it with the idea that someday down the line I could do an art project for him. When I got a part time job and offered to pay him back…he refused. He gave without any strings attached. Without any deadline of payment. It humbled me and prompted me to be a generous giver to others as well. Thank you Terry and Audrey. I love you both.