We are coming up to one of our favourite days of the year soon, Valentines Day. Todd would argue that its a day invented by card companies to help take away your cash . . . and there are some who would say that you shouldn't need a special day of the year to show your loved ones that you love them, and that would be right on both counts, but it is a day I love all the same. I do try to show my loved ones that I love them every day, but it's kind of nice to "celebrate" that every day love in a special way on Valentines day! I think so at any rate. And who doesn't like to get a card or special object of remembrance or appreciation?
I love the film Forest Gump. There are lots of memorable scenes and lines in it like . . . Life is like a box of chocolates, etc. But one of my favourite lines from the film is when Forest says to Jenny, "I am not a smart man, but I know what Love is." That line always touches my heart in a special way.
You DON'T have to be smart to know what love IS, and you don't have to be smart to know what love ISN'T!
Love . . . its the one thing which we cannot thrive without, next to food and water. Scientific experiments have shown this to be true. Love even makes flowers bloom better, and can soften even the hardest of hearts.
Love comes in many shapes, sizes, types . . . there is no one single kind of love. Love is wine and roses, and yet it is much more than wine and roses. Love is selfless, all-consuming, giving, patient, kind, long-suffering, generous in thought mind and deed, courageous . . . love does not fail, no matter when, what or how.
Love is the greatest commandment . . . which is two fold. The first part being to love God with all your mind, heart and souls, and the second being to love others as you would love yourself. Christ taught that on these two aspects of love, all the other commandments hung.
And indeed, if everyone in the world practiced just those two things, this very world we live in would be utterly and totally transformed.
Love turns enemies into friends. The Saviour taught us to "Pray for those that despitefully use you." It is pretty hard not to love someone you are praying for, and in turn . . . it is very difficult not to love someone who thinks enough of you to pray for you. Love transforms everything. It makes the unloveable somehow loveable . . .
It's like a magic potion that changes everything in it's wake . . .
This is profound and this is true. Love will not hurt you. Love is not to be confused with sex. Love is not sex, although when you have a personal amorous love for another being there is that need to be as close as you can to them in an intimate way . . . but the true test of love is to be close without the confusion of that sort of intimacy. People's minds are often clouded and deceived by intimacy . . . tricked into thinking the two things are one and the same, but . . . they are not. One is animal lust and a need, and indeed without it all living things would cease to exist, but it is not the be-all and end-all of the human experience. Intimacy is precious and something to be treasured between two individuals who are so committed to each other that they wish to spend the rest of their lives together . . . and to have a family together. But love can exist without physical intimacy and physical intimacy can exist without love, and it is when people confuse that intimacy with love that they run into trouble. The true test of romantic love is being able to feel close and committed to someone without our minds and thoughts being clouded by that intimacy. That is why in our church we caution our members to be chaste in thought, word and deed. First love . . . and then marriage (committment) and then intimacy. That is the right way to do things . . . I see the consequences and sorrow all around me in this world from people who have gotten those things the wrong way around, and confused intimacy for love.
Love is patient. Love waits for things to be right.
Loving can cost a lot, but not loving always costs more, and those who fear to love often find that want of love is an emptiness that robs the joy from life.
~Merle Shane
And that's my thoughts for today on the subject. It's getting late and I have pancakes to make. I LOVE pancakes. Pancakes and Saturdays are like peas and carrots. They just go together.
Something else I love . . .
Baking in The English Kitchen today . . . Chocolate Chip Shortbread. Delish!
Psstt!! My latest embroidery pattern:
Find out more here.
Have a great day!
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