What does 'LOVE' mean to YOU?

[Jullianna]

That's exactly it. When you have a child, you are completely vulnerable. There is nothing you wouldn't give, give up or endure for that child. You know their strengths, as well as their weaknesses, and no matter how deeply they may hurt you from time to time, the love you have for them remains constant regardless of any other emotions you may have.

 

[Liamson]

Liamson, I don't think i can agree with your analysis of 1 Corinthians.

It's not about what love looks like. To me it seems pretty clear. Those verses describe what love IS. You know, they do use "is" like 10x...

Not to sound contrary, but to start this out I think I have to describe what love is not. Love is not an emotion, love is simultaneously a choice and an action. 1 Corinthians can be used in all situations. It clearly defines what choice and action must be taken. If you choose something else, you are not loving.

Unfortunately, what love means to me is quite literally 1 Corinthians. I could list off a bunch of cases where I have applied that love, but what's the point? To demonstrate that I know how to be patient, kind, forgetful, forgiving, etc? I've waited to post, but I'm still not sure I really understand your intentions here.

When Jesus told us to Love our neighbor as ourselves, he gave us the parable of the Good Samaritan.


If I quote every verse from scripture and say, "hey thats me." I am basically cutting and pasting what I think is right. I'm not talking about how it works or how I've applied it or WHAT IT MEANS TO ME.


Its the difference between What the scripture implies and what you infer from its implications.

 

[LightningClap0002]

Alright, let me give this another shot.

Love means always. It doesn't stop because someone makes bad choices. It doesn't stop when someone hurts you, attacks you, or ignores you.

Love means always answering the phone when she calls; even though the only time she calls is when she has been hurt by yet another guy. Love means being firm and honest with her in one moment, and then holding her and comforting her the next. Love means doing something even when you KNOW that you will get hurt. Love means keeping a promise, even if you were young and dumb.

Love means seeking those who are hurting, seeking those who are alone. Love means seeking to understand someone, even when they oppose you. Love means always accepting the explanation even when it doesn't match with what you thought the reason was. Love means focusing on God because God is love, and through him is the strength to constantly be hurt, constantly be beaten down and yet get up and do it the next day once again.

Love does not mean always trying to prove you are right. Love means trying to explain, trying to understand. Love means seeking the truth, and doing this, through understanding. Love does not mean attacking a person, but clearly defining their actions. Yes, you can call a person who stole a thief, but this is not what love means. Love means seeing the person who stole and calling them a person. Going to God and begging Him to open their heart and see the error in their ways. All have stolen; we are all thieves. All have lied; we are all liars. All have meant something other than what he have said. Love means realizing this, and calling the action what it is; then turning around and seeing the person as they see themself; not by their actions, but by their intentions. Sinful nature leads to sinful actions. A holy soul leads to holy intentions. Yes I do sin, but I hate that I sin. Yes, I see you and your sin, but I choose to love you and learn if your soul is holy; if it is not, then God save you.

Yikes that became long. Did this fit better with your desired responses? :S

 

[Liamson]

Alright, let me give this another shot.

Love means always. It doesn't stop because someone makes bad choices. It doesn't stop when someone hurts you, attacks you, or ignores you.

Love means always answering the phone when she calls; even though the only time she calls is when she has been hurt by yet another guy. Love means being firm and honest with her in one moment, and then holding her and comforting her the next. Love means doing something even when you KNOW that you will get hurt. Love means keeping a promise, even if you were young and dumb.

Love means seeking those who are hurting, seeking those who are alone. Love means seeking to understand someone, even when they oppose you. Love means always accepting the explanation even when it doesn't match with what you thought the reason was. Love means focusing on God because God is love, and through him is the strength to constantly be hurt, constantly be beaten down and yet get up and do it the next day once again.

Love does not mean always trying to prove you are right. Love means trying to explain, trying to understand. Love means seeking the truth, and doing this, through understanding. Love does not mean attacking a person, but clearly defining their actions. Yes, you can call a person who stole a thief, but this is not what love means. Love means seeing the person who stole and calling them a person. Going to God and begging Him to open their heart and see the error in their ways. All have stolen; we are all thieves. All have lied; we are all liars. All have meant something other than what he have said. Love means realizing this, and calling the action what it is; then turning around and seeing the person as they see themself; not by their actions, but by their intentions. Sinful nature leads to sinful actions. A holy soul leads to holy intentions. Yes I do sin, but I hate that I sin. Yes, I see you and your sin, but I choose to love you and learn if your soul is holy; if it is not, then God save you.

Yikes that became long. Did this fit better with your desired responses? :S

YES!!!

this is it

 

[error]

less words, more actions. and responsibility

 

[Jullianna]

^best answer yet^

 

[Jullianna]

I reeeeeeeeeeeeeeally like what error said.

Love is tenderly rocking a sick crying baby all night long when you are exhausted.
Love is not caring that your kids are mad at you when you make them get up for church.
Love is being one of those kids who are mad at your folks for making you go to church, but knowing all the while why they do it.
Love is getting up several times a night to carry a dying parent to the bathroom knowing they really don't have to go.
Love is having to tell that same parent they are dying because they were too scared to go to the doc themselves for the results.
Love is throwing a Batman party for an adult sibling because it was his favorite thing to play with you when you were little and you know it will be his last birthday.
Love is holding onto the mother of an 11 year old child who has been torn apart by 3 cars with all of your might so she won't see it, crying/praying with her and rocking her in your arms until she is finally able to stand.
Love is doing without so others can have what they need.
Love is looking beyond what someone says to the point of their need.
Love is helping a repentant/reformed convicted person find a job.
Love is listening to the elderly even when they don't make sense and you think you have more important things to do.
Love is making every effort to help the family member most put at a distance feel special.
Love is buying a water purification system for a community in a third world country rather than that new tv or computer.
Love is giving a poor seminary student the bonus you'd intended for a vacation.
Love is being a dentist who works long hard days, but spends Saturdays treating poor children free of charge.
Love is performing legal services free of charge for servicemen/women headed into combat so their families will be cared for if something happens.
Love is being in your 90s and continuing to teach an adult Sunday School class to those who didn't get it when they were younger.
Love is what those angels we call neonatal nurses do everyday all day long that would bring most grown men to tears.
Love is what pastors do when they serve with all of their being those who criticize them behind their backs.


I've been thinking alot about what Nod said too. The very same man who wrote the amazingly wise/gentle chapter in Corinthians that everyone posts every time the subject of love comes up has been called harsh, arrogant and judgmental for things he said in other chapters of Corinthians. Love is not always tenderness, flowers and pats on the head. Love is also tough, enduring and bold.

 

[PopClick]

Love is giving and expecting nothing in return.

 

[niceguyJ]

I don't think it can fully be put into words. How could words hold such a thing?
That said, I think there are some good posts here that touch on it.

I'll add this, in my own words:
Commitment to looking out for someone's best interests regardless of how they treat you or any return you may or may not receive.


Thinking on this, The Coral Castle crossed my mind. One story goes that the man who built this was left by the woman he loved because she thought he was too poor and perhaps too old. After that he built this amazing place by himself. No one truly knows how a 5 foot tall 100 lb man could do this. Some speculate that it was built as an homage to this girl who left him.
We may never really know everything involved, but there is a song written by one of my favorite artists based on the above theory with a line that says:

"I don't need her love to love her all I can"

To me, that's a very powerful thought. Here is the song, if anyone is interested.

 

[niceguyJ]

Well, now I see Popclick had basically the same thought I had and got it posted while I was typing up mine...and listening to that song again.

 

[PopClick]

Well, now I see Popclick had basically the same thought I had and got it posted while I was typing up mine...and listening to that song again.

Sorry! I'll try to be slower next time

 

[LightningClap0002]

I thought we decided that men use fewer words. Hmmm, is CC just a special instance where things are reversed?

 

[Snackersmom]

Yes......

 

[JackSparrowHead]

I have heard that and believe that love is completely fearless
I have thought of love as a cherishing of something or someone in your heart. Loving them for who they are. Loving the person on the inside. Being ready to do anything for that person.
The truest love in my opinion is the love one is willing to die for. to love someone so much that you are willing to sacrifice your very existence for the person you love. to go through pain and trial, yet stay strong in the bond of love. Thats what I've seen true love as

 

[MrHonest]

Matthew chapters 26-28 redefined love for me today.

 

[Liamson]

I have heard that and believe that love is completely fearless
I have thought of love as a cherishing of something or someone in your heart. Loving them for who they are. Loving the person on the inside. Being ready to do anything for that person.
The truest love in my opinion is the love one is willing to die for. to love someone so much that you are willing to sacrifice your very existence for the person you love. to go through pain and trial, yet stay strong in the bond of love. Thats what I've seen true love as

Agreed!!

Its a tragedy that so few women ever speak of the value of such a thing.

 

[Jullianna]

I agree with what JackSparrowHead had to say and I can't speak for other women, but I've certainly felt that way.

Do you think that how men and women look at love and how we speak of it has anything to do with how our roles play out in relationships? MOST men are natural protectors and are obviously called by God to cherish their women as Jack has described, while women feel and display love in nurturing ways, not only toward their children, but toward their men as well. At least mature women do...

I don't know that we are less passionate, maybe we just express it differently.

 

[Jullianna]

We can carry a thing for years and the weight of it can wear us down needlessly. Liamson, I thank you for this thread. There are so many types of/aspects to love, aren’t there? It’s the action part of it that has been the most enlightening to me for the past few days.

The scriptures say that we are to encourage those who are weak and visit those who are sick. Pastors preach about it all the time. Jesus talked about it all the time too and even SHOWED us how it was to be done.

My son was 13 when when his father passed. He is 20 now. He was 4 when we began attending the church where his father baptized him and all of us were extremely active in serving those in the church and community all of those years.

In the year and a half that his father was dying not one person from the church came to our home to check on us. No one offered to help drive him to the hospital for any of the 4 hours per night, 3 nights per week he needed to go, while I was working fulltime, caring for my son, my husband and my home. No one offered to make a trip to the grocery store. No one ever offered to sit with him so my son and I could go out for a bite or a movie..or anything.

When the three of us decided it would be best to sell our farm and move to a location that would be easier for me to care for alone, no one from our church offered to help us. A childhood friend of my husband’s had to come from another area of the state to help us.

In the 7.5 years since my husband passed, the only time anyone has ever offered to help us was a neighbor who recently offered to help with mowing that I cannot temporarily do.

When my mother lay dying about 5 years ago and I was up all day working/caring for my son/mom/home, and up all night caring for my mom, no one came. I was blessed enough to be able to hire a wonderful christian sitter to help a bit while I was working though. I will be forever grateful to her. She was my rock and the Lord was my Rock. I don’t know where I would be without Him. He is indeed a husband to those without and a Father to the fatherless.

I am absolutely certain that I am not the only person in the Church who has experienced these things. You can either allow it to make you bitter or you can allow it to be the fire that drives you to help as many people as you possibly can. I’m sharing this as a reminder that we need to keep our eyes open, as those who seemingly have it all together may not be as strong as we assume. People who have been walking for a long time can become too weak to walk alone or may occasionally trip and fall. We need to be just as compassionate with them as we are with those who are learning to walk. There are also those who talk a good game, but the only time you see them put the talk into action is when it is self-serving or others are watching, so I’m not too sure that meets the Corinthians definition.

Remember those in ministry. They often neglect themselves and their own families in service of the rest of us.

It feels good to be able to lay this down here….
Thank you, Lord

 

[shae0104]

Its selfishness that gets in the way,when you fail to make the lord your focal point, and you let distraction get in the way Love struggles love chokes

 

[Liamson]

I agree with what JackSparrowHead had to say and I can't speak for other women, but I've certainly felt that way.

Do you think that how men and women look at love and how we speak of it has anything to do with how our roles play out in relationships? MOST men are natural protectors and are obviously called by God to cherish their women as Jack has described, while women feel and display love in nurturing ways, not only toward their children, but toward their men as well. At least mature women do...

I don't know that we are less passionate, maybe we just express it differently.

That is kind of where the thread started too. I just feel like it looks different when a man is on fire and when a woman is on fire.

In a more romantic sense, I think about all the times that a woman has done something that is traditionally reserved for a man to do. There is definitely something to be said about reciprocation.

I've dated a LOT. But I've only ever had one woman deliver flowers to my work, bring me coffee, leave notes in my car for me to find, or just in general spend the day with me as I run errands. (when you work in a hospital full of women and a woman who doesn't work there gets you flowers, I think its more of a "this one is mine" thing.)

So in a sense, I think that most women are significantly less romantic. They like GETTING the attention but, when it comes to giving something in return, its as if it never occurs to them. So they might cover dinner once or twice but, its not the same as something that requires forethought and meaning.

I have no doubt in my mind that women love Children.