I love you
I have no copyright to this picture it was saved from google images
What comes to mind when you hear these words? Let me guess, the first narrative would be that the person really loves you or they say that they love you. The second would be that they appreciate you and the efforts you make towards helping them out. The third narrative would be lust creating an illusion for you to think that they’d always be there for you when in actual sense they are only with you to take advantage of you and your trust. Whichever the case it falls under, the fact would always remain that the definition of love would always defer from person to person.
What is love?
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According to the dictionary it is said to be an intense feeling of deep affection or a great interest and pleasure in something.
Another definition says that love is a set of emotions and behaviors characterized by intimacy, passion and commitment.
And the Bible tells us in 1 John 4:16 that God is love and whoever abides in love abides in God and God in him
This is a statement often always said by people in love or by people who have love for each other. It is used widely by a lot of people with different intentions at heart.
Regardless of the way people would tend to define the word love,The word love is a noun, when used to express feelings, interests or emotions it becomes a verb, According to the meaning of a verb, love is an action word, which supports the claim that I would always strongly maintain that love is an action rather than mere words.
I would like to take us back to the Bible.In John 3:16 the Bible says that “For God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have eternal life” the key word now is (gave) God took an action led by a decision to give his son to the world to die for our sins. The action in its entirety depicts love. The Bible also makes us understand that God is love in 1 John 4:8
I have no copyright to this picture it was saved from google images
Love is an action word. It should not be believed by hearing rather by implementation. An individual that loves football and has a club he or she fans would keep him or herself informed about the time of the match so as to get ready to be in front of a screen before the time, he or she would listen with rapt attention and keep their sitting positions until the match is over, why would a person stay dedicated to a game? It’s because they have created love for it. When you say you love a person it would always be incomplete without efforts, dedication, attention, involvement and investment of yourself.
I have no copyright to this picture it was saved from google images
Love goes beyond just mere words. It is an assurance that a person can feel safe with you. It is an assurance for vulnerability. It means sacrifice, compromise and above all all it means to give. A person that claims to love you without giving you things, not just tangible but intangible things, is not in love with you or does not have love for you. When you love a person you are moved to want to gift, surprise, assist and make them happy because it genuinely makes you happy. A friend of mine said that love is understanding the way a person feels or perceives love and showing it to them in that manner without making them feel like they’re asking for too much. You need to understand something to love it, this is why I will never believe in the term “Love at first sight” people these days confuse lust and infatuation with love whereas there’s a thin line that differentiates the three of them. Love is more than a feeling, it’s a choice. Long term relationships would make you understand that it takes more than a feeling to be with one person for a very long time, you would have to choose the person everyday and every time regardless the situation you both go through, you choose to do it together. Love would make you argue less and listen more. Love would make you understand that it’s not you against your partner or friend it’s you and your partner or friend against the problem. Love is more than just a feeling it is a journey, it’s a decision, it’s a choice, it’s a routine, it’s a way of life, it’s a study, it’s a discovery and a work in progress. Love controls your tongue. Love makes you decide to change. Love makes you want to do better and be better. It’s not about just saying I love you to a person it’s being a blessing to that person. What have you impacted in the life of the person you say you love? What has the person emulated from you? In what way have you inspired your love interest? Or are you just about telling them consistently about how much you care for them and will be there for them without actually putting in the work to make them believe you? Even the Bible says in James 2:20 that Faith without works is dead
I have no copyright to these pictures they were saved from google images
When you say you love a person it is incomplete without investing yourself in the person either with your time and presence or your attention to details, prioritizing the person, creating time for them, these are little things that mean the world to people, dedication to learning things about your love interest and getting to understand them, making compromises, making sacrifices, giving to them at random, showing them that they can rely on you, not just because you say you love them but because you have shown them that you love them. Now I don’t in anyway mean that you should put your life on standstill for the ones you love or that you should stop doing all the things you love or that you shouldn’t hang out with your friends or that you should stop keeping or entertaining friends to ensure the efficiency of maintaining a healthy relationship with the ones you love, a healthy relationship doesn’t need restrictions to commence, it needs communication, understanding, boundaries and effective participation, so rather than tell people you care about, that you love them without any real action to back up your words, show them how much you care and let your actions speak for you.
