by Christine Baker
The world says love is flowers, candy, and a night out on the town. Oh, and diamonds, yes, lots of diamonds.
Hallmark says love is a card and/or a movie with your significant other on the sofa eating popcorn which may or may not include mystery, intrigue, romance, and a resolution within two hours.
Music from the 80’s says love is a myriad of things.
Phil Collins, in “A Groovy Kind of Love,” says love is shivering, quivering, and, well, groovy. He also says in “Against All Odds,” love fills an empty space.
Air Supply, in “All Out of Love,” says without love, one is lost and hurting.
Bette Middler, in “The Wind Beneath my Wings,” says love is the person behind the famous person.
Stevie Wonder, in “I Just Called To Say I Love You,” says that love is words conveyed over a phone call.
R. E. O. Speedwagon, in “I Can’t Fight This Feeling Anymore,” says love is a feeling that’s been fought so long it’s forgotten what they started fighting for.
In Whitesnake’s song, “Is This Love,” love is a feeling, it’s dreaming and searching.
In Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” love is a need, and you guessed it, a total eclipse of the heart.*
So how does one know about love, besides television and music? My guess would be by loving someone or watching someone love someone. These are my personal experiences with love. I’ve been married for thirty-one years and I dated my husband for three years prior, so for thirty-four of my fifty-two years, I have loved and been loved.
But I also know about love from watching love. My Dad loved my Mom with all his heart for fifty-four years, forty years of my own life. His love, in so many ways, taught me about true love. He was madly in love with my Mom and he showed it in the ways he cared for her right up to when he died.
So what really is love?
I leave you with the Apostle Paul’s most excellent words on love. No greater ones exist.
“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.”**
As always, Good eating! Good living! Good loving!
Au revoir mes amis!
Christine Baker
*Song lyrics from Google.com
**I Corinthians 13:4-8a NIV
