Hello Readers!
With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, what week would be better to talk about LOVE! I’m a sucker for romance. I could watch The Notebook one hundred thousand times and still cry every time. I know what you’re thinking, ‘oh boy, she’s one of THOSE girls…” and you’re absolutely right. But is that really what love is all about?
Valentine’s Day isn’t just a day where a lot of roses and chocolate are passed around. It’s a celebration of LOVE. And I think to truly celebrate it, single or taken, we need to have a fundamental understanding of what love is.
If I asked you what love was to you, I can imagine some of your answers. “Love is that feeling deep in your tummy when he smiles,” “Love is the way you can’t help but feel butterflies,” etc. I’m sorry to be the one to tell you, but you’re wrong. While a big part of love is a feeling of affection, love is so much more than that.
Poets and song writers have tried to define love for centuries. We all know Taylor Swift’s “loving him was red…” Red? That doesn’t help us define love at all. Or maybe Rihanna’s “we found love in a hopeless place…” we still don’t understand even the basics of love. Many blogs and articles today will say that who we love is not something that we choose but I believe that’s wrong.
Love is a verb.
Think about it. If love was a feeling, we could use it to jump from partner to partner when things don’t go as planned. You don’t feel like you love your parents when they tell you no. But you do. You don’t feel like you love your boyfriend when he’s grumpy. But you do. You don’t feel like you love your cat when she’s meowing at your window at 4 in the morning. But you let her in anyway, because you do. While your feelings can change with the wind, love is a choice.
People love in different ways. Every person has their own “love language,” whether it be words of affirmation, physical touch, acts of service, gifts or quality time. They may show their love in one of these languages or all of them. However, they all ring true that when you love someone, your actions follow that.
The media is obsessed with presenting us with an ideal world. In an ideal world, people live together in harmony and cruise through life without facing a single problem. Unfortunately, we live in the real world, and in the real world, it’s not as easy to choose to love someone as it is to feel love for someone.
So, what is love? Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, 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 (1 Corinthians 13: 4 – 7).
Love is a verb, so choose to love this Valentines day. Buy your friends some chocolate or spend the day with that special someone. Whatever you choose to do, remember that you are loved, whether you have a someone to tell you that or not, I’m telling you now. You are special, you are important. You are loved.
Happy Valentines Day!
Love Anastasia xox
To Heal a Generation 