What is Love?

Let me start of by giving credit to C.S. Lewis, a lot of it. However, true credit belongs to God for opening his and my eyes. All Truth and the application of it, Wisdom, comes from God.

Love is not an emotion. Love is not what we commonly refer to as "falling in love" or "being in love". While we can be driven to Love while "in love", there are dangers in confusing Love with "falling in love". The ladder is a selfish emotion. You are only "loving" the other person because they make you feel good. Being "in love" is an emotion that will not last with half of its intensity for all years. What will happen when that emotion fades? Being "in love" is an emotion that if chased will lead one to find it again, but not with their spouse, with a new person.

Love is a grace from God. It is a virtue that is given to us. Whether we believe in God or not, the Lord put the Wisdom of Love in our souls. However, we are better off if we know of Love's origin. St. Paul, who beheld the Truth, wrote:

"Love 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. Love never fails."

Cliche? So what... It is Wisdom. We must not degrade Wisdom by tossing around words like "cliche". And we must be reminded of every piece of Wisdom as much as possible, because we forget easily.

To Love is also the fulfillment of the God's two commandments to mankind. They are:

• You shall love the Lord, your God with your whole heart, and with your whole soul, and with your whole mind, and with your whole strength.
• You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

If you keep the second commandment you will not only Love your spouse, but you will also Love your family, friends, and enemies. More importantly, if you keep the first commandment, God will grant you more Wisdom which will help you Love even more. We must remember, that God works in his own time and the whole process may take longer that what you wanted.

Love is great, but to always be in that state of grace will be impossible for all of us. We are all sinners, but we must not be hopeless. Any paradigm of Love without God at the center will rupture at the moment of controversy between spouses. For if we center Love on another person, they will surely let us down. For if we center Love on another person, we will surely let them down. But if we center Love with God, we disappoint our spouses less and forgive more when they disappoint us. Do not feel hopeless, because God has an abundance of Love to give to us. God always Loves us, no matter what we do.