Love. We all know it when we feel it. But what is love, exactly?
When I was 15, I asked Lisa, a dear family friend and mentor, what she thought love was. She said, "love is how much you are willing to sacrifice." Her idea shocked me at the time, and it totally changed what I thought love was, or could be.
I've since come to think of her idea as a combination of motherly love and Catholic love. Moms make incredible sacrifices, all the time. As a non-parent, I am still learning to appreciate the scope and depth of what my mom has done for me.
Who made the biggest sacrifice of all? Jesus. Maybe not a "mom" in the technical sense, but according to the bible Jesus gave his life for all God's children. Does it get more epic than that?
I'm not religious, but I really admire Lisa and how her sense of love and religion translates into action. Her love is in everything she does, from her mothering to her volunteer work at homeless shelters.
Though my idea of love is different than hers, Lisa's expression of love hugely influenced me. It introduced me to the idea of measuring love through action, which I will explore more in depth in a future post.
What is love, for you? What experiences have shifted your idea of what love is, or could be?
I think there are infinite ways of experiencing, understanding, and expressing love. I would love to hear about how you relate to love, so I'm making the hashtag #dimensionsoflove, and I'm going to try to post regularly about different kinds of love. If you post in #dimensionsoflove, feel free to link here-- I don't want to miss it!
Dimensions of love #2 is about trying to measure love, the difficulties that can arise, and when doing so is useful and when it's not. #3 is about the love of difference, love of language, and love of the infinite
PS the picture at top is a dreamy-eyed friend I love dearly. He's about to be a father! And I'm about to be an uncle! He has told me that, as he contemplates his coming fatherhood, he feels both incredible joy and incredible grief; joy for this new life, and grief for letting go of the idea of the life he thought he would have. This, I think, is an example of "sacrificial love."