To Love

This post is inspired by the book Brida by Paulo Coelho as well as 1 Corinthians Chapter 13. In the ever great search of answers, as to why I do the things I do, feel the things I feel, put up with the things that I put up with: maybe the answer will come to us in this. And if it doesn't ~ does it really matter?

We all sing the songs that speak of love and devotion, of endless sacrifices, waiting on street corners in the rain, just to find love. While these songs may teach us a thing or two about this greatest of emotions, it does not always say that this emotion helps you understand and learn. 

If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels,

But do not have love,

I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 

If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge;

And if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains,

But do not have love, I am nothing. 

And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, 

And if I surrender my body to be burned,

But do not have love, it profits me nothing. 

They say love allows you to understand all the mysteries of life and the universe. Things which seem stupid to others, you see the wisdom within ... and without. And you understand that to love, is to give wholly as each of these act stated above requires ~ without expecting anything in return.

Love is patient;

Love is kind and is not jealous;

Love does not brag and is not arrogant, 

Does not act unbecomingly;

It does not seek its own, is not provoked,

Does not take into account a wrong suffered,

Does not rejoice in unrighteousness,

But rejoices with the truth; 

Bears all things, believes all things,

Hopes all things, endures all things. 

Virtues, virtues, virtues. Nothing but virtues that only saints can comprehend and achieve in one lifetime. So then, what hope can a mere mortal have of reaching the heights of the saints?

There surely must be a way we can meet all these requirements, at least once in our lifetime? For is it not each person’s destiny to live life to its fullest, and that includes giving and experiencing love in all its glory?

Again, by using “experiencing” and not “receiving” which goes synonymously with “giving”, why is it then so difficult to most to accept that love, again, is unconditional – to give without expecting in return.

Love never fails;

But if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away;

If there are tongues, they will cease;

If there is knowledge, it will be done away.

For we know in part and we prophesy in part; 

But when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. 

When I was a child, I used to speak like a child,

Think like a child, reason like a child;

When I became a man, I did away with childish things. 

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face;

Now I know in part,

But then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.

Many may think that to love one’s self is to give the best for one’s self ~ I beg to differ. For to love myself, would be to understand my own self, my reason(s) for living and daring to go on, day after day, for those same reasons, accepting with this commitment the fear of pain, loss and separation. And if I can accept myself, then these same elements of fear would not be the emotions that kill me.

But if I cannot accept myself and my commitment, these elements of fear would be the ones to make me stop living. Do we allow the disappointments in life, which brings these wild horses of emotions to reign supreme, renouncing all that we know is of most importance: that of giving and experiencing?

But now faith, hope, love, abide these three;

But the greatest of these is love.

In Brida, it was said: 

It (faith) only existed because she believed in it. Miracles couldn’t be explained either, but they existed for those who believe in them. Faith is a Dark Night. And that’s hardly a surprise really, because for us each day is a dark night. None of us knows what might happen even the next minute, and yet still we go forwards. Because we trust. Because we have Faith.

The Bible says of Faith, Hope and Love - the greatest of these is LOVE.

And it is indeed the greatest of all because it brings us back to being the closest we could ever be with the intent of our creation: For God created us in his Likeness, and the most supreme virtue of being God is His great capacity to Love.