This Thing Called Love

Isn’t it funny how love is seen in this world?

You want to make a million bucks? Write a love story. It can be in a movie, a book, or a song. Only don’t bore us. Spark it up! Make it exciting.  Just when they think everything’s alright, break them up. Throw in another guy. Make them cry. Kill one of them.

Make it complicated. Because that’s what love is, right?

I’ve seen and heard a lot of pictures of love. I’ve read the books and seen the movies—tales of heartbreak, confusion, and thrills. Not that those stories are bad. But it seems that love is portrayed in almost every way, expect simply.

“Love is a ruthless game, unless you play it good and right,” Taylor Swift once sang. “Love is never, ever simple,” One Direction said as-a-matter-of-factly. In almost every hyped science fiction trilogy, there’s some kind of love triangle. And, I think, in the confusion of it all, we almost forget what love is.

Love is simple. Sure, situations are complicated, but love isn’t. Is it easy? Of course not. Can it frustrate you? Yes. But through it all, love isn’t a game. Love isn’t supposed to drive you insane. It’s much more powerful than that.

Love is noun and a verb. Love is being there for someone and caring for them, even if they might have hurt you before. Love is being willing to give up everything you have and being okay with it, as long as you’re with someone.

No, it’s not easy at all. There are no shortcuts to love—true love, anyways. But despite what Hollywood has made it out to be, it’s not a mystery. It can seem quite impossible, yes, but love is one of those things that can change everything.  Yet, it’s not hard to figure out.
Say you had ten people in your life that you loved. Now think that nine of those people hurt you needlessly and then left. Sounds like a nightmare, right? But all the same, it’s better than having no one at all. That’s the wonderful thing about love. Jesus is right. Without love, we are nothing.

And there is only one perfect love.

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. 1^st Corinthians 13:1-3.