Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Because bound by conditions...it's not love.

"The only love worthy of a name is unconditional." John Powell

I love the color yellow, the feeling of the sand between my toes, a warm summer breeze, forehead kisses, and down comforters. I love a lot of things, but only when I use the word love loosely...that's not unconditional love. Yellow is a pretty color; it is my favorite, but sometimes I prefer green to yellow. The sand between my toes feels amazing, but when it is wet, it's a mushy mess and sort of annoying. A warm summer breeze is nice until I'm really hot and just want the dang air condition. Forehead kisses are pretty much great all the time except if the person giving them just isn't right. Down comforters are SUPER comfy unless the room is way too hot to even want a blanket.

These are conditional "likes". They are not loves. I like all of the above listed things until something better comes along or alterations are made to them.

When we think of unconditional love we tend to think of the love of a parent for their child or the love of a dog for his owner. It is in these forms of love that we can see that no condition is placed on the feeling of love. God intended for all love to be unconditional love. However, we tend to place limitations and expectations on who and what we love. That simply stated isn't love.

When you truly love someone there is nothing they can do that would make that feeling stop...ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! That person could lie, cheat, steal, kill, etc., and you neither physically or emotionally could even force yourself to stop loving them. Unconditional love lasts forever without any restrictions. Love without the unconditional is void of love.

For some reason, we have lost sight of the real representation of love or maybe we never had it to begin with. We say we love someone but only when we see our wants reflected in their actions. It is only when that person is who we would like for them to be that we say we love them. If unconditional love were a way of life, the word love would not exist in a past tense. Because to love would mean to have that feeling eternally, forever. Would you ever say that you once loved your child, father, or mother? No, you will love them even past their deaths because you truly do LOVE those people. Unfortunately, in the world we live in, all too often we hear of a wife who once loved her husband or a man who had love for that woman. The unfortunate part is that people honestly do not realize that what they have placed the title of "love" on, isn't love at all. It is a longing to feel loved and once that longing has been fulfilled, they are content. It isn't until that longing is unfulfilled and the presence of hurt emerges that these people decide to take away their "love".

I am an offender of this kind of loving. I have had relationships and friendships that have ended with me never thinking about that person again, but we were "so in love" in the moment. Those relationships only existed for the purpose of satisfying my wants. Although I gave alot while I was in those relationships, I no longer had a need for them when they ended so the feeling that was associated with them died as well.

God wants us to love as he has loved us. He loves us regardless of our shortcomings. We hurt Him in more ways than we know, and yet still He wants us to be in Heaven with Him. That is love. That is unconditional.

We need to experience the definition of what love is and what love is NOT before we profess our love to one another. If the love you are giving is only being expended for your own personal gratification, then it indeed is false love. The love that you give is true when you can honestly say that the love-ee can do NOTHING to make the feeling the love-er has for them go away.

Unconditional...without any restrictions or limitations.

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