Some people don’t use the word enough, others use it too much, and even fewer really understand what it means. When we hear the word love we think of tangible things; what someone does for you, how much money they spend on you, or how much time they spend with you. We like to track love and keep record of what it does and doesn’t do, because we all feel like we are entitled to be treated a certain way. We read magazines and books, and listen to speakers and music in an attempt to further our knowledge on love. We are so eager to experience it that we will accept someone else’s definition just so that we can say we love someone, or someone loves us.

The other night I was asked if I had ever been in love. I thought about my response for a couple seconds, and then said yes I had, once. But the more I’ve thought about it since, the more I wonder if I actually was in love, or if I just thought I was… As 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 tells us, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, 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. 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.” The only perfect love that we will ever experience in life is God’s love, in our own relationships we will make mistakes, we will hurt others and we will be hurt. But many times we allow love to be an excuse for how we are treated and how we treat others, and in doing that we try and justify our actions through that love, or lack thereof.

The purest form of love is reached when we love others through God. We do this through our thoughts as well as our actions. Ultimately the foundation of love is forgiveness, if we are unable to forgive, then we will be unable to love. When we tell someone else that we love them, be it a family member, a friend, or our significant other, we are pledging to them that we will not envy, that we will not be easily angered, that we will trust, protect, hope, and persevere. It is not love that fails, it is us.

Love is a beautiful thing, and the moments that we experience when in love are one of a kind in nature. They form a bond between two people that can neither be separated by time nor space. Loving someone is a choice, it is an act, it won’t always feel good, and it won’t always be easy. But the rewards that it produces, those moments of sheer joy, and the bond that is formed through that love will remain unbreakable as long as we choose to make it that way.