LOVE 7/13/09

...and the greatest of these is LOVE...What is love?

Love is painful, conditional at times, a void that we all seek to fill whether we realize it or not. It hurts. Love can cause your heart to literally ache....to feel so much...to be vulnerable enough to put it all out there and hope for the best but often, expect the worst.What is love supposed to be? It is supposed to be unconditional, beautiful, a commitment regardless of another's actions...a forgiveness that has no bounds. This is not limited to the love between man and a woman but the love of family, friends, children, people in general. There is a saying that it is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all...also, that to love is a risk....to lose is bittersweet but to gain is the ultimate gift.

We all are uniquely and wonderfully made with the capacity to love without prejudice. The choices we make, the risks we take...well those moments are what defines who we are.I never want to become jaded - I want to always love with everything I have. I want to be the person I am meant to be...emotional scars and all....if God loves me the way I am, others should too. :-) I always want to be transparent, vulnerable [in a healthy way], and open to everything life has to offer. I will not limit who I know myself to be, who I even choose to be. I will not compromise the love I have to offer based on the risks I have taken that did not pan out. I will love with everything I am and have until I get it right in God's eyes.

1 Cor 13:4-7Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, 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.So, bring on the pain, the suffering, the anguish, the yearning for that one person in the world or those people to surround yourself with that "get" who you are....I willingly jump in because I know on the other side of that, God has great things in store.

Peace.