What is love?

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R

renewed_hope

Guest
#1
#1
I believe when you love someone, you want the highest good for them even if it means it's not you. Love is never a feeling or emotion because those change with time. I never really talked about this, but my bf is brutally honest with me and has hurt me with his words because he doesn't communicate them very well. We took a break a few months ago for a month and a half because he said some harsh things, but they were all true. He just had a rotten way to say them lol and I wasn't in the right place emotionally to handle it. Anyways, I sought out some counseling and was told to be patient with him and continue to love and support him, but continue praying for him. Let me tell you it was the hardest thing I have ever done, but I knew my happiness didnt rely on him when in fact I thought it did. One day, I felt the need to send him a quick text and realized we still love each other. Long story short he told me his best friend had a heart attack and it brought everything into perspective. Turns out he was getting burned out with his job and how it was affecting everything in his life and so he decided to quit because his job means nothing to him compared to the people he has all around him.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

So, what is love to you?
 
mailmandan

mailmandan

Senior Member
#2
Apr 7, 2014
25,471
13,414
113
58
#2
Love is summed up nicely in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. :)
 
G

Galatea

Guest
#3
#3
[h=1]Sonnet 116: Let me not to the marriage of true minds[/h]Launch Audio in a New Window
BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments. Love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove.

O no! it is an ever-fixed mark

That looks on tempests and is never shaken;

It is the star to every wand'ring bark,

Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.

Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks

Within his bending sickle's compass come;

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,

But bears it out even to the edge of doom.

If this be error and upon me prov'd,

I never writ, nor no man ever lov'd.

















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Lynx

Lynx

Folksy yet erudite
#6
Aug 13, 2014
27,285
9,333
113
#6
"What is love?
Baby don't hurt me
Don't hurt me no more"
~Haddaway


Love can be many things, and most of them can't be put in words. "What is love" is something every person must find out for himself. But it is something a person must find out, because without knowing what love is one cannot follow the two greatest commandments.

Love is something I don't need to explain to somebody who knows what love is, and I can't explain to somebody who does not know what love is. How can you explain the beauty of a yellow rose to a blind man?

Erma Bombeck once said "I love you" is not always three words. Sometimes it is six. "Honey, I filled your gas tank."

The best I can do is give an example of love. Once upon a time a lady had a minor car accident, a fender-bender. When she reached in the glove box to get her insurance information, she found a small note from her husband. "Dear, in case of an accident remember it is YOU I love, not the car."

This doesn't explain what love IS, but it can explain what love DOES. The husband did not want his wife to worry about what he would say about a fender-bender, even during the time it took for her to get from the accident to him. He knew she would worry though, so he left her a note where she would surely find it if she had a car accident, to remind her that as long as she was okay he wasn't going to get upset over a fender.
 
Lynx

Lynx

Folksy yet erudite
#7
Aug 13, 2014
27,285
9,333
113
#7
Aaaaaaand... while I was typing the preceding post, a Stranger beat me to the song reference. Ah well.
 
S

Stranger36147

Guest
#8
#8
Lynx said:
Aaaaaaand... while I was typing the preceding post, a Stranger beat me to the song reference. Ah well.
Click to expand...
Yeah, sorry about that. :p
 
M

mj007

Banned
#9
Feb 5, 2017
1,118
36
0
#9
There is only one type of love which is Godly (there is only one God) - unconditional love.

All other constructs of love, are human constructs of love; the human condition, conditional love. But mostly we focus on this love, even though it is of the flesh. If you don't think so, how many neighbours, how many 'categories' of people in this world don't you love?

Perfect love is without condition, it is unconditional love. Perfect love casts out fear.

Fear cannot exist in the presence of unconditional love. This is even observed around those who achieve this state of being, that animals feel no enmity in their presence.

It is a state of being, unconditional love is not like 'a mothers love for her child'. Does she love every child the same? No. It is conditional love. One might say my dog loves me unconditionally. No. Animals are not conscious entities like humans are, but they are much better with emotions than we are, especially dogs. Emotions, synthesized love, that which appears to be love, is not unconditional love. Anyone can SEEM like a loving person. However there is ALOT to learn from animals in the sense that they are 'like children' who haven't yet developed a mind that judges everything. If they did, would they not see that they are imprisoned, never to be allowed to escape, never wanting to escape (Stockholm syndrome). Harsh but true.

Ask yourself about the love you have, and whether it has conditions. While it has conditions it is 'of this world'. But when you attempt unconditional love (which is possible when you realise just how judgemental being human is, or having a brain and mind, and the fragility of human love) you find that you are somewhere 'not of this world'.

Everyone has experienced it, even for a glance. I personally did an experiment on it, and it's the greatest testimony of my life, and is why I say what I say here. Those who counter-argue rather than debate, well, why do you counter argue? What are the mind processes involved? One can always respond in love, with a loving intention.
 
M

mj007

Banned
#11
Feb 5, 2017
1,118
36
0
#11
[video=youtube;Qb0QuCtjVLk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qb0QuCtjVLk[/video]
 
HannahA

HannahA

Senior Member
#12
Sep 16, 2017
132
17
18
#12
one song pop up in my mind when i see this thread
what's luv by ashanti & ja rule
:D[h=1][/h]
 
G

Galatea

Guest
#13
#13
renewed_hope said:
I believe when you love someone, you want the highest good for them even if it means it's not you. Love is never a feeling or emotion because those change with time. I never really talked about this, but my bf is brutally honest with me and has hurt me with his words because he doesn't communicate them very well. We took a break a few months ago for a month and a half because he said some harsh things, but they were all true. He just had a rotten way to say them lol and I wasn't in the right place emotionally to handle it. Anyways, I sought out some counseling and was told to be patient with him and continue to love and support him, but continue praying for him. Let me tell you it was the hardest thing I have ever done, but I knew my happiness didnt rely on him when in fact I thought it did. One day, I felt the need to send him a quick text and realized we still love each other. Long story short he told me his best friend had a heart attack and it brought everything into perspective. Turns out he was getting burned out with his job and how it was affecting everything in his life and so he decided to quit because his job means nothing to him compared to the people he has all around him.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

So, what is love to you?
Click to expand...
I think we need to be careful about determining the other’s highest good. It is a little presumptuous, I mean- how do you know what is best for the other? What is best may very well be you being with the person. No one really knows what is another’s ultimate good. We must decide for ourselves what is best for each of us.
 
N

NoNameMcgee

Guest
#14
#14
Galatea said:
I think we need to be careful about determining the other’s highest good. It is a little presumptuous, I mean- how do you know what is best for the other? What is best may very well be you being with the person. No one really knows what is another’s ultimate good. We must decide for ourselves what is best for each of us.
Click to expand...
semantics my little mermaid


wanting whats best for someone to the point of self sacrifice

doesnt involve selfish actions


a father wanting the best for his daughter is careful

renewed did a fine job explaining what love is
 
R

Rachel20

Senior Member
#15
May 7, 2013
1,639
106
63
#15
Circa 2014


I found true love
And it wasn’t lying on the wayside
Easily found or to hide
It was not shouting to the world
Exquisite poetry or excessive word

I found true love
And it was in the hand that held me
That touched me in sympathy
That felt my pain as if their own
Whose burden for me, a heavy stone

I found true love
In the voice of my father and mother
Full of love unlike any other
Even in emails typed out of concern
For my future, sometimes stern

I found true love
In a message by a friend
Because I had closed off to a deep end
I know not why I am this way
But she cared is all she had to say

I found true love
And it wasn’t the kind in movies
The romantic sort of trophies
On which are penned thousands of tokens
Triumphant, and sometimes broken

I found true love
And it was right in front of me
Except my thoughts were foggy
It’s hard for me to see so clearly
That depth I needed dearly

I found true love
And it sometimes scares me
To find such truth so early
To be aware when others are not
To treasure it , it can never be bought

I found true love
And I dont want to lose it
Every breath I have is to cherish it
I found true love right in this life
It’s a miracle, God granted in strife

I found true love
And it is the reason for living
For love is but giving
And in everything may I ever
Never hurt you but love forever
 
PeterJens

PeterJens

Banned
#16
Feb 24, 2015
13,204
168
0
#16
When I was single, I was quite reserved and emotionally hidden.
I did not like taking risks with people and was unaware of how cut off I had become.

I met a girl who I started to like. As time went by I found she had grown on me, to
an extent no other girl had ever done. I felt I had to ask her out.

Now I knew probably she would reject me, but it was actually more important for me
to express how I felt, to show things that I really care about I can bring into the open.

Love is like this. It does not have to have the expected response. It is just honest, open
and waiting. When I asked her out something changed in me. She did turn me down.

We are now married with 3 grown up kids, and she was used by the Lord to open me up
and turn love from something hidden to something I can shout from the roof tops.
 
T

Tinuviel

Guest
#17
#17
I hate the trite saying...but What Would Jesus Do? In this case, it really seems to fit. When in doubt, read I Corinthians 13. He wrote it :p
 
notmyown

notmyown

Senior Member
#18
May 26, 2016
4,927
1,272
113
#18
i'm no poet.

love is walking the floor with a colicky baby when you're exhausted.
love is standing over your 7 yo for 30 minutes teaching her to change her bedsheets, a job you could do in 5 minutes.
love is doing your neighbor's grocery shopping after she has hurt you.
love is waiting dinner for your spouse, sister, parent.
love is forgiving a wrong done, not counting it as a debt.
love is chatting with the lonely older woman at the market when you're pressed for time.
love is allowing another to go and being happy for the time you've had together.
love is sharing what you have when you have very little.


these are all ways other people have loved ME. y'all can share your own examples, i'm sure.





 
G

Galatea

Guest
#19
#19
NoNameMcgee said:
semantics my little mermaid


wanting whats best for someone to the point of self sacrifice

doesnt involve selfish actions


a father wanting the best for his daughter is careful

renewed did a fine job explaining what love is
Click to expand...
Parental love is different from romantic love. One adult can not decide what is best for another person. I am in mind of How Green Was My Valley. The poor preacher would not marry his love because he did not want her to live in poverty. She married a wealthy man and had a miserable life.

She knew it was best to marry the poor man.

Love has no impediments. If a man loves me, nothing matters. Nothing. It is all extraneous. I know what is best for me.
 
zeroturbulence

zeroturbulence

Senior Member
#20
Aug 2, 2009
24,644
4,305
113
#20
notmyown said:
i'm no poet.

love is walking the floor with a colicky baby when you're exhausted.
love is standing over your 7 yo for 30 minutes teaching her to change her bedsheets, a job you could do in 5 minutes.
love is doing your neighbor's grocery shopping after she has hurt you.
love is waiting dinner for your spouse, sister, parent.
love is forgiving a wrong done, not counting it as a debt.
love is chatting with the lonely older woman at the market when you're pressed for time.
love is allowing another to go and being happy for the time you've had together.
love is sharing what you have when you have very little.


these are all ways other people have loved ME. y'all can share your own examples, i'm sure.
Click to expand...
i LOVE this! :rolleyes:
 
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