Love Is…

Love. It’s a word, right? It’s an interesting word, and we seem to use it all the time, but what is it? Kendra Cherry, on the website “verywellmind” said this, “Love is a set of emotions and behaviors characterized by intimacy, passion, and commitment. It involves care, closeness, protectiveness, attraction, affection, and trust.” She said a number of other things about love, but it’s these that I wonder about. Is this description the way we use the word “love”? I’m not sure it is.

 I’m guessing that all of us use the word in very different ways. Perhaps we say, "I love the cool fall mornings when I get out and walk. The leaves are changing, and the colors are just beautiful. I love fall.” Do we talk like this? How about, "I love pumpkin pie". Think about this. I love pumpkin pie? Really? What sense does this make?

 We just throw the word out making it a common thing, just a word to flippantly describe how we feel about the air around us or our appetites. We don’t really consider the power that word has, and we use it willy-nilly as if it was nothing special, just ordinary.

 Listen to Kendra Cherry ( https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-love-2795343 ). If you go and read her article, forget everything else but the above definition. Understand, I LOVE my wife. I don’t love mashed potatoes and gravy. I like those, but I LOVE my wife. If she passes before I do, my heart will be ripped out of my chest and will be buried with her. We are one, and her passing will mean that half of me is gone. If I don’t get mashed potatoes and gravy, so what?

 Bebo Norman (you may not know him) has a song (link below). The first few lines are as follows.

 I believe when they put her in the ground

I think they buried part of me

Cause I've been searching

I've been looking all around

But I cannot find the heart of me

 I know, from talking to many who have lost a spouse that this is how (you), they feel. That’s because love wasn’t just a descriptive word for everyday things. It was a life wrapped in the soul of another. And it made life worthwhile.

 Love. I want to use that word correctly. Think about how God uses the word, John 3:16.

 link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTTGesBCB8s

Josiah Tilton