written on Monday April 12, 1999

Being "in love" seems to be the most popular topic of any style of music.  "Popular" songs speak of "falling in love" and even "loosing love".  They say a lot of things about "love", but do they really say anything about what love really is?  Because of songs, shows, and other social influences, people often think they are in love, maybe many times, "falling in and out of love".  People think what they feel must be love because that's what so many people call what they're feeling.  But, is it really love?  What is love?

Are you really in love?

· Are you patient with the one you love?'
· Do you constantly forgive?
· Are you kind to him or her?
· Would you let yourself be hurt repeatedly by the one you love, but never do anything to stop  him that might hurt him?
· If someone else makes the one you love happy, do you find, instead of envy, that you are content simply knowing that the one you love is happy?
· When you think of him or her, do you forget about your own well-being and get caught up in the needs of the one you love?
· Do you find that you can't be angry with the one you love?
· Are you honest?
· Do you find yourself living a better life without even consciously trying?
· Do you want to shield the one you love from all harm, even though it takes experience to learn?
· Do you trust the one you love even if all your fears and even your logic tells you not to?
· And, even if he or she broke your heart and crushed your spirit, would you still love him or her?
· Do you foresee spending the rest of your life only with the one you truly love?

Or is what you think of as "love" only lust?

· Do you feel an urgency, a fire inside you, that makes you impatient with the one you "love"?
· Are you constantly afraid that he or she doesn't really love you but is just playing with your emotions?
· Would you ever intentionally hurt the one you "love"?
· If the one you "love" loves someone else, do you find yourself filled with destructive jealousy?
· Do you "love" him or her because of how good you feel around him or her?
· Do you loose that feeling the moment he or she leaves?
· Have you buried a grudge deep inside yourself against something the one you "love" has done?
· Would you lie to him or her to protect yourself?
· Do you find that your life falls apart every moment you're not next to the one you "love"?
· If he or she said something to really hurt you, would you loose your "love" for him or her?
· Do you often find yourself doubting his or her sincerity?
· Do you find yourself looking around and thinking about who you will "love" next?

True love is full of wonderful feelings that don't end after the one you love is gone.  Love is beautiful and amazing in every way.  Love has incredible highs, but it also has unbelievable lows.  You love the person, you care for him or her, so you also worry for him or her.  When he or she cries, you cry.  When he or she laughs, you laugh.  To truly love someone, you become one.  You want to know each other's deepest thoughts.  You become one, not by looking at each other, but by both looking in the same direction.  You look forward to eternity, not as a time that will never come, but as the moment you are now living in.  And, when you truly are in love, you don't even have to ask yourself if it really is love, because you know it is.

All love comes from God because God is Love.  Love is patient because God made time itself and always has a perfect plan.  Love is forgiving in the same way God has forgiven all of our sins.  A person in love is honest because God is the Truth.  A person in love worries about the one they care for and tries to protect them in the same way God watches over all of us.  A person truly in love does not give up on that love just as God never gives up on us.  True love lasts forever because God is eternal.  His grace abounds, His beauty is everywhere, and His life is in all those who truly love, because God is love.