L is for...

What is life worth? What is worth living for? What is worth giving up life for? What is the one thing most treasured, lusted after, fought over, cried regarding, and valued as priceless? Love.

To love someone is a natural tendency. We all love as small children. We love our parents because they are our parents. We love our siblings because they are our siblings. We love our friends because they are our friends. We love our toys because they are our toys. But somewhere along the journey that is “growing up” (yes it is a journey, and no it never does have an end), we lose part of our capability to love. The reason we lose this is because we love ourselves. Love, unlike most other gifts, is best tasted when given away. This is why so many people spend their lives lonely and alone; they are so concerned with themselves and what they want that they cannot be concerned with others and others’ needs and wants. It is in this human tendency that we find our biggest failures as human beings.

Those who are lucky enough to figure this out (whether they actually realize it or not) find love again and find themselves whole. However, this finding of love can be just as easily lost again as it was the first time. Once we have obtained love, it is easy to forget that love is a choice – a daily choice I might add – and we forget to choose love. In the day-to-day grind of everything, we forget others and, in the process, forget love. It is during these times when we either have not found love to begin with or have lost it that we are the most miserable.

Love is something that is learned, but that is also taught to us by others. When we are shown selflessness – love – by others, we learn what love is ourselves and how to love. The gamut of those who have taught love ranges from parents to teachers to friends to strangers and everything in between. We are taught love by sacrifice, time, and willingness to give. We are naturally willing to accept all of these, but not as willing to give them away. Even the most giving of people can easily forget how to give and therefore how to live and love. But we are shown daily what love is.

Here is my list of people who have taught me to love and what it is about love they taught me:

Dad: Love is silently holding your tongue.

Mom: Love is laughing and crying with and for the other person, and actually meaning it.

Amber: Love is being patient with someone even when they aren’t patient with you.

Ryan: Love is knowing when to be serious and saying things that need to be said.

Danny: Love is never giving up on something, regardless of how difficult it may seem.

Lindsey: Love is doing what is best for the other person, even when it is inconvenient for you.

Andrew: Love is not conditional upon another person – one can love without receiving in return, regardless of the circumstance.

Craig: Love is thinking of the other person with a smile – regardless of what has happened, what is happening, or what will happen, love can be remembered happily.

Kelli: Love is giving when the other person doesn’t want to receive – only in loving through the hard times are we willing and able to love through the good.

Roger: Love is really giving yourself away to the other person without expecting
a return and being happy for them simply for the sake of being happy.

Mike: Love is being available at a moment’s notice to share that love, and love is acknowledging what another’s love has done for you.

Drew: Love is never, never, never letting go of hope, whether that hope will be wisely invested or not.

Last, but definitely not least:
Jesus Christ: Love is giving everything you have and supporting the person you love even when they don’t want what you have to offer. Love is humility in accepting that your love may be rejected but loving anyway.

I’m still learning to love. I’m not very good at it yet. These people listed and the lessons they’ve taught me have either been through them loving me or me loving them, or sometimes both. The thing about love is that it is so all-powerful that if everyone had some in their hearts, the world would shine. Nothing cures someone like the gift of love.