Love, like beauty, might be in the eye of the beholder:
Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford.’ – Chris – age 7
Finding the answer to this question is a lifetime quest. We sing about it, read about it, write about it and consume ourselves in this constant search for love. Oh to love and be loved in return.
Sometimes we misunderstand it. We keep confusing the cheap imitations with the real thing. Infatuation, sentimental tears, the teenage crush, passion, that warm cozy feeling – all very nice, but they’re not love.
To love is to give a piece of one’s heart and not look back. Love sticks around on the good days and the bad ones. It does what needs to be done and never holds back. Love’s work is done in tiny pieces and can be done even by the smallest of us.
Love has its bad days when its heart is cold and there few cheery thoughts to warm it. But even then, love does not falter and does not take back that piece of the heart that it gave away.
Love’s work is never done, and its yield is never ending.
Let’s give our hearts to one another and never take them back.
I think maybe this child’s definition of love sums it up:
‘When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That’s love. -Rebecca- age 8
Love is giving of ourselves without giving a thought of what we gain in return, it is unconditional and the satisfaction is in itself the best return!
Where oh where is love? All around us!
