Higher Love

For those of you who are hopeless romantics like myself, Valentine's Day is a day that is relished. It is a magical day and has been since you were in grade school and stuffing little cardboard valentines into your classmates' shoeboxes.

Regardless of how life has treated you, or who is in your life, Valentine's Day can be romantic or "Palentine's Day" when one celebrates with friends.

For me, it is the one day of the year that I will wear pink and red! I will plaster my home with hearts! I will bake heart shaped cookies and make home made cards. It is an opportunity for me to share love with those around me without looking like a complete weirdo! My favorite holidays are Thanksgiving and Valentine's Day. They are meaningful and tend to be the underdogs of holidays. Thanksgiving is a time where people gather and break bread. There is an intimacy and a cozy closeness to sharing food and conversation and thankfulness that most holidays do NOT contain. Valentine's Day is a time to show those you care that you DO love them...and you can be as cheesy as you want without fear of judgement! Neither are truly about gifts--they are both about giving and sharing--spending time with those you care about--and being thoughtful. This brings me to a topic that cannot be overhyped, and that is love.

I have spent much time reflecting as of late on the nature of love--the different ways others show love...and it's importance to those around us. In fact, you can find hundreds of quotes on the subject and I have inserted a handful of good ones below:

Love is always bestowed as a gift- freely, willingly, and without expectation. We don't love to be loved; we love to love.

-Leo Buscaglia

We're born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and

friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we're not alone.

-Orson Welles

Kindness in words creates confidence.

Kindness in thinking creates profoundness.

Kindness in giving creates love.

-Lao Tzu

There's no bad consequence to loving fully, with all your heart.

You always gain by giving love.

-Reese Witherspoon

I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.

-Martin Luther King, Jr.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and love your neighbor as yourself.

-Jesus

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends.

-John 13:15

Let all that you do be done with love.

-1st Corinthians 16:14

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 slow to anger, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

-1st Corinthians 13: 4-8

It seems to me, based on the many quotes regarding love, that love is one of those things that conquers fear, strengthens hearts, defeats darkness, and it can withstand even some of the most difficult of times. I am currently in training with my new job, and have had several trained professionals speak directly to us regarding how we treat other people. One was a paramedic--he spoke boldly about the importance of kindness. One was a retired Fire Chief, and he had John 15:13 tattooed on his arm and told us that love is the most important thing in existence, and if we all had just a little bit more of it to share with each other it would make the greatest impact on the world. Believe it or not, I am not being trained to be kinder or love more. I think that any person who takes on a job in public service has to have a heart for people--and the passion just kind of overflows.

I have the utmost respect for those who serve--whether it be serving our country in the military, or serving the public via public safety--police, public works, social services, medical responders, fire fighters, transportation, sanitation, teachers, etc. There is a tremendous amount of giving and sacrifice that comes with public service--it is what helps me to continue to believe in and see the positive in humankind.

I feel like this opinion is an unpopular one. Social media and the news has, in my opinion, created a huge rift in appreciation and respect for others. It has become a large platform to express hatred, unhappiness, complaint, ridicule, and emphasizes vanity as well as selfishness, and embraces pointing out the fault in other people, agencies, beliefs, groups, etc. It is my belief that with the prevalence of all this negativity, we are becoming desensitized to people belittling others and allowing things like trolling to become the norm--especially online. It is unacceptable and unkind.

Love does not rejoice in any of these things. Love is the driving force behind kindness and patience and sacrifice. It is what gently pushes us to hold the door for the person behind us, and pass the toilet paper to the person in the stall beside us. It is what picks up the credit card the person in front of us dropped and left behind, and allows people who have less groceries ahead of us in line. Love is in the tiny things and the great things. It isn't just romance and kisses and marriage. That is only the tip of the iceberg. There are so many types of love: romantic love, friendship love, family love, love of material things, love in action, love of our fellow neighbors. I love so many things and each one falls under different categories and ways that I love.

I love God, I love hiking and being in nature, I love books and reading and makeup and art. I love my boys more than anything, and I love learning. I have friends that I love and family members I love. I love the mountains! I love berries and chocolate and wine! I love the color blue. I love people watching and philosophical discussions! I love to laugh and sleep! I love love--making memories and sharing quiet, crazy and fun moments.

I believe love and thankfulness go hand in hand. It has been proven that gratitude really helps to build a positive mentality, and give a person more joy. I believe love is the same. Showing love to others builds positivity in others and blesses ourselves when we extend it. It costs nothing to show lovingkindness. It costs nothing to be thankful and also to thank others for their contribution. And yet these two things can have a priceless impact on those we bestow love and thankfulness to.

There are hundreds of poems, songs, and books about love. It is something that we naturally seek and long for. We are blessed because we have the unconditional, constant and true love of God. Everyone is loved by Him, and we know love and have the ability to love because of God's love. This is what has to sustain us, for people are imperfect and unpredictable. I can love whomever I choose to love, and those persons I have chosen to love may not love me back or love me the same way that I love them. Those persons may change their mind and decide they do not love me anymore and move on. This is the way of humankind, and in spite of the pain that comes with these things-- it is also one of the greatest gifts God bestowed upon us--free will--the ability to choose.

Below are two poems that illustrate love powerfully:

Who said that love was fire?

Who said that love was fire?

I know that love is ash.

It is the thing which remains

When the fire is spent.

The holy essence of experience.

-Patience Worth

Sonnet 116

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.

-William Shakespeare

So, choose love.

Embrace the love God has for you.

Love others as yourself.

Love freely and without expectation of return.

Happy Valentine's Day!