Love Is; Love Is Not…
In a month consumed with the word LOVE, let’s take a step away from all the symbols and false representations of love. Let’s refuse to be drawn into the fabricated concept of commercialized love and peer intently into authentic love – a daily, moment by moment choice to do well for another.
Love is not warm butterflies in your stomach fluttering around, promising happily ever after. Surprisingly, love isn’t even primarily an emotion. This fallacy is a driving force behind the reason people “fall in and out of love”. They falsely believe once the emotion has left, there is now nothing left to the relationship --- forgetting that feelings are skittish; they come and go.
We are a society desperate for connection and yet less engaged than ever. NO, likes and comments on social media are not the healthy engagement our spirit craves! We are afraid of commitment because our emotions are so fickle… and life has proven so are others.
Love is predominantly an action, not a feeling. The sooner we are able to embrace this truth the better for us personally and collectively. My daddy always taught me love is doing well for the other person. The ancient admonishment to “love your enemies” is only achievable if love is an action, not based upon the feelings toward another.
Hate rhetoric and actions seem on the rise in our society. Could it be correlated with less “doing well” for those you disagree with or dislike? We allow our negative feelings to grow like a wildfire --- culminating into hate. May we not forget what Martin Luther King Jr stated about love, “Love is not emotional bash; it is not empty sentimentalism. It is the active outpouring of one’s whole being into the being of another.” Wow! Active outpouring of ones’ whole being into another without discrimination of our emotions or thoughts about that individual --- but simply because they are another human in need of connection and goodwill. Now that is transformational and powerful!
So this February, often associated as the LOVE month, let’s toss to the side all the fluff – stuffed animals, chocolates, hearts, flowers, and extravagant gifts and instead…
Make a conscious decision to remain committed to the people in our lives. Daily, moment by moment choosing to do well for and then sit back and watch your emotions follow your actions!