United Regardless

There are many variations as to what love is, or what the meaning of love is. Some say love is not even real, that it is just a reaction among hormones occurring inside of the human body. Some say love is close to magic, because it is one of the only things that make your head spin and butterflies erupt in your stomach in a pleasant way. Love is universal, which is something that really fascinates me, because I know that everywhere in the world, there is love. In every corner of the universe, you will find evidence of love’s influence. The mere thought of having the same magical feeling deep in the center of your heart as another in another country where the culture is completely different and language foreign is magnificent. Every ethnicity, gender, religion, sexuality: we are all united by love. So why are there still enormous problems in the world, such as mass genocide or religious persecution? It is because although love may be fascinating and magical in and of itself, it is also a harbinger of pain. Pain and love are so intertwined with one another that it can be hard to tell which one is dominant.  There are cases where one person may love another, but the other person may be completely oblivious, or worse, indifferent and the love unrequited. The love of different idols or gods has started wars and pain has befallen both sides of the conflict. However, love is not always painful. This is clear when you see a couple celebrating their fiftieth anniversary, worn down hands clasped and eyes sparkling, or in a newlywed couple, smiles bright and faces glowing with joy and pride. Love may often be laced with the vile poisons that are pain and hatred, but is still a mysteriously magical creation of some higher power, no matter what or who you believe in.

The Gravity of Love

There are many different kinds of love that apply to individuals. There is love for ones family, love for ones self, love for ones friends, love for ones religion, and many other types. For myself, love is a very hard emotion to explain, and is much easier expressed. Sure, we sometimes have strong feelings for people that at best can be described as a longing for someone, but very few and far between can the affection between two people be described as love. Love isn't killing yourself just because the person that you love has died, it is having the strength to continue on and keep yourself committed to that one person, even after their death. Love is a lot stronger than any book or person can describe. It takes a dedication that few can put themselves to. It means putting themselves through all the hard times just because they feel like it is completely worth it. Some people say that "Love is a roller coaster." Well, I have to disagree with that as it is much more. A roller coaster can never go higher than the highest point due to many factors, whereas love can start off at the lowest point and go much higher, fall, and go higher yet. Love is climbing your way to the peak of a mountain and falling into an abyss, then climbing out of the abyss to find yet another mountain in front of you. It is a constant struggle, and saying its easy would be a lie. It is a feeling that, to me, has no words that can quite sum up the full extent of just how far it can go. Love can be anything from risking your life to protect the other to giving them a simple flower. It's not what you have done, its the depth of the meaning behind the action.

What Love Is

Many people come across the commonly asked question in life, “what is love?” What they don’t understand is that the answer to that question was answered a very long time ago. 1 Corinthians 13 verses 4-7 says, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, and it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres.” Love to me means putting other’s needs first before my own. Love never fails, and it is patient. I strive to stay true to all of what love is, but sometimes I fail. When I feel like I am not doing my best I go to the maker of love, God, to help guide me again. God is love.

The Chemistry of Love

From all the different emotions in our intellectual arsenal, love is not unlike a bomb. It can disrupt everyday cycles of life and make everything else seem insignificant. It can change our outlook of life. We know what love does to us, but why? Why does it bring 2 unique individuals together? I believe that love is a chemical reaction. Love is the desire to carry on the human race and spend a lifetime with another human being. To  me, love can be explained in chemical imbalances and formulas. Oxytocin and serotonin are some of that main chemicals. Serotonin is also associated with obsessive compulsive disorder, explaining why the person in love can thing of nothing else but the person he/she loves. Oxytocin is considered as the chemical that keeps a couple together and is the long term chemical of love. This is what love is to me.

The Never-Ending Emotion and Gift of Love

          Love can refer to a variety of different feelings, states, and attitudes, ranging from pleasure ("I loved that movie") to interpersonal attraction ("I love him/her"). Many authors have distinguished further varieties of the romantic love. Many creative art pieces are based off the theme of love. My religion, Christianity, teaches that the emotion or feeling of love comes from our God in heaven. He intended for us to possess the unselfish love for others (agape), and the love of a woman and a man. Love means a lot to me, and it can have a big affect on the way you view yourself and others as humans. I love my family with the love intended to be for your family, but also I love my baseball team and all the people associated with it with the "brotherly" love (phileo). When you are loved or you feel that you are loved, everything in your life and around you seems to be brighter and happy. Romeo and Juliet go to show that when you are in love you are much happier and you act as if you have forgotten call of your troubles. Although love has many happy connections to it, love can be very dangerous if you abuse it. Your love for someone maybe become obsessive and that causes big problems. I think love can be shown by the way you write to someone, talk, act, or even present yourself around the one you love. This is why love is viewed to be one of the most complex or intricate emotions any human can feel. Love will always be part of your life no matter what. That is why I call it the never-ending emotion.

The Most Potent Emotion

        The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines love as a "strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties." Love is a universal emotion that many of us are familiar with. Many of us come into contact with love every single day, whether it be from a significant other, family member, and even friends. In my life I have learned that love can be both good and bad. For example, without the love and support of family and friends I probably would not be as confident as I am today. The love of my parents can sometimes be so much it feels as if I am being smothered by it but, they see it as protecting me. I also fee l different types of love for different people and things. I love my parents in a completely different way than I love my friends. The love I feel for pizza is not as strong as the love I feel for my dog. When you love someone you are content with them, you enjoy there companionship, and for the most part enjoy being around them. Everyone expresses that love in a different way. Some people would shout their love for someone at the top of a mountain for someone, while others would simply prefer to whisper their love for some under their breath. Love is the strongest emotion that humans can feel.

Love is Different For Everyone

          When you think of love you think of romance, couples, and Valentine’s Day. I think those all express and define love in a sense but loving someone isn’t easy. You have gushy definitions but they don’t talk about the things that make it last like the arguments and disagreements or opposites attract. They talk about what people want to hear and quite frankly that’s what I want to hear too. When you look back at history and past love stories love makes people do crazy things and this emotion or feeling has made the world what it is today. Love is shown countless times and most of the stories are different but all the same. It’s simply two people falling head over heels in love with each other and living the rest of their lives together.                                                                                  

            Love can also be shown through an action like Jesus dying on the cross. He loves us all and gave up his life for us just so we wouldn’t be bound by our sinful nature. Jesus’ love is very different from humans loving one another. It’s hard to love someone and for someone to love you because were not perfect and let’s face it were going to make mistakes and hurt one another. God’s love never stops and it doesn’t matter what you ever do nothing will make him love you any less. In 1st Corinthians 13:13 it says, "So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love." While love is a challenge to define as humans no matter the heartache or pain it brings we seek it and we need it constantly.

What Love Really Is

     Some people only think about love during Valentine's Day and only define love as a deep affection between a man and a woman. Lust is sometimes misinterpreted as love, but love has nothing to do with that feeling. Love is actually a combination of many different attributes.       Patience, forgiveness, and care are only a few symptoms of love. For example, if you love someone, you will be patient with them, be willing to forgive them, and care about them. I also believe there are different types of love and different reasons why you would love someone or something. A woman will love her own child as soon as she sees it because it is a part of her, and she gave birth to it. A child will show love toward a household pet because of how cute it looks or how friendly it is towards the child. Love can also be unconditional. Jesus Christ showed unconditional love for us when He died on the cross for the sins of the world. He also showed love through His sacrifice. I believe Jesus showed the most unconditional love than anyone in the history of this world ever has.

LOVE: Addiction To The Emotional Drug

    Medically speaking, love has been compared to use of amphetamines. Love releases chemicals in our brain that invoke physical responses throughout our bodies. When you're in love your mood is elevated, you are able to sleep better, and you generally have a positive outlook on life. Being in love makes going to work or school easier, your problems generally appear insignificant, and interacting with others is typically more pleasant.
     When you are interested in someone but your not sure how they feel about you "a crush" you experience some anxiety over the situation. A crush can make a person become irrational and obsessive. Many criminal stalking cases begin as a simple "crush" where the individual feels such strong emotions for someone, they begin conducting themselves in disturbing manners. When asked about the reason he attempted to assassinate President Reagan, John Hinkley stated it was to impress actress Jodie Foster because he loved her so deeply.
     The Trojan War was, supposedly fought over the love of Helen. Romeo and Juliet committed suicide because of they're forbidden love. A man will step in front of a bullet for the love of a woman. It has been said that love is the emotion closest to insanity. Love makes people happy, confident, brave, sad, irrational, and obsessive. Every person needs the emotional attachment to another.
      Love is unavoidable because from birth we crave the love of those we first encounter. Like a drug addict, we continue to search for our next "fix" of love, no matter how bad the last experience with love hurt us. If love is not the strongest, and sometimes the most dangerous, drug addiction than I really don't know what is.

Beloved, Let Us Love

When I think about love, I think about God.  The subject of love is mentioned many times throughout the Bible. I have learned a great deal about what real love is from my parents, my Pastor and through Sunday School classes. This is what has shaped my thoughts and beliefs about what love is. I have learned that God is love and everything we do should be influenced by love that is unconditional. That means that your love does not change in different situations. It stays the same. When we love others, we will have different types of love for our family, friends and others. But, we should always have the most important love for everyone. In my own experience, even when others did not treat me fairly, I still knew that I had to treat them with love. I also did not treat them the same way that they treated me. I believe that having real love is a better way to live because it is not good to live with anger. In the Bible, I John 4:7 says “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God…”  This means that when we learn how to really love, then we have learned a lot about God.

A Small Word With A Big Meaning

Love is such a small word for a big meaning. Just those four letters can be exciting, overwhelming or even painful. I'm not sure what love is for me yet but I think of it as two different types of love. One of those types of love, I share everyday with my friends and family. The other, I have not yet experienced but is the more personal and intimate relationship. My idea of love used to be when you find that one person that you share a "Happily ever after" with but really it's the exact opposite. Love would be perfect if it had a "Happily ever after" to it, but love isn't perfect at all, it's only what you make it. With all types of love, comes responsibility, laughter, tears and loyalty. Love is a big part of my life and I absolutely love everyone in my life but it's also my love with God that keeps me going everyday. When you think about it, all the many different meanings of love somehow come together as one. For such a small word as "love," everyone has many different meanings for it. Because it has so many different meanings, this simple word is a huge word.

Love is Unavoidable

           Love is a force of human nature. That is why I believe it is so special. We are the only living beings that have access to it. As humans, we were gifted with deep, intellectual emotions, that no other creature on the planet has the choice of having. These other creatures don't experience it because all they know is physical attraction, it’s part of their natural instinct, which they don't have any control over. However, love is far deeper than physical attraction alone. It is when a person is truly committed, or completely attached, to another person or thing. They would do anything and everything to have it in their life. For example, if that person or object were to be taken away from you, life would no longer have value. After studying the play Romeo and Juliet for the past few weeks, I noticed this was exactly how Romeo felt towards Juliet, and vice versa. When either of the two was unable to see each other they had anxiety and would threaten to commit suicide.

        In my honest opinion, all of us will love something at some point in our lifetimes even if we don't know when or where it will occur. That's what happened with Romeo and Juliet in the story. It wasn't expected, planned, or even rational. That's the beauty of love, you can't control it. Love is the strongest feeling we will ever experience and can drive even the most unassuming people to react in erratic or insane ways. It is a part of all of us, and it's the most powerful thing in the world.

Without Love There is Nothing

            There are many different kinds of love. One does not love their best friend the way they love their family, and one does not love their significant other the way they love their dog. However with every kind of love there is, a person will do anything to make sure their loved ones are okay.  A mother, for an example, would put her life on the line to save her child. When a person loves someone and something makes a big impact on their loved one’s life, it will make an impact on their own life as well. Their loved one’s problem becomes their own, and they will do whatever it takes to fix it. When a person is in a relationship, they love their significant other differently than they would their family. This love in a relationship comes gradually and is different for everyone. One falls in love with their significant other based on the little things they do that are different from everyone else, the things that make them unique. This love is more intimate than most and can make a huge impact on a person’s life. Loving someone means knowing everything about them and still wanting to spend every second of every day with them. One cannot have any sort of relationship with someone whether they are a friend, a family member, or a significant other without love.

The Real Meaning of Love

      Affection. Couples. Compassion. Love can be defined and described in many ways. Love is a word that is thrown around to much. It has lost meaning and we try to make up the meaning. Some people describe it as the way we love our boyfriends/girlfriends, the way we love our possessions, or the way we love our friends and family. While these thoughts of love are true, I have a different meaning of what love is. It is Jesus.
      Jesus has everlasting love for us. No matter how we sin or how many times we sin, he will forgive us and still love us the same. He gave his life up for us upon the cross so that our sins may be forgiven. When no one else is there for us, Jesus is. He loves us no matter what we look like, how we feel, or how we sin.
      Many people have different meanings of what love is to them. To me, it is Jesus Christ.

Everywhere There is Love

                I find love every day in my life. I sometimes find it in the sweet words of friends or family and I sometimes find it on the face of a complete stranger who shows the joy they have for life. It can be shown through a newlyweds’ kiss on their wedding day or the look a mother gives her child. The strong feelings love brings out can be seen in the laughter we share with each other and the smiles it brings to our faces. Love is one of the strongest emotions, if not the strongest, for its ability to make people do the crazy things they do. Romeo and Juliet took their life because their love was not meant to be. Other people are also known for their outrageous acts of love. Today love is not treated like the powerful tool it truly is. It can lead to heartbreak and disappointments, but it can also be used to lead to something beautiful that can mend the heart. Love to me is a strong connection between people or things that comes from the deepest depths of them. Our actions show our love and the close bonds we have with the people we are close to everyday. Love can brighten a gloomy day if we search out all of it that is waiting to be found around us and take it for the beauty that it is.