What Is Love?

With Valentines Day just a mere 5 days away some of you are getting pumped to spend that special day with somebody who is at least equally special.  Others of you will wait out the day in the company of good friends.  Still others of you will spend it alone, watching movies and eating pizza…or at the very worst…doing homework.

Valentines Day has become a day where society focuses on love.  However, I’m wondering if we have forgotten what love is really about?  Being a member of the Western world, an elite group of countries who have it all, and live the good life compared to many other countries who struggle with conflicts of many kinds.  I have seen love become commercialized in almost every way imaginable.  Commercialization of love tends to cheapen it in my opinion.  “Buy your sweetheart a box of chocolates and she’ll love you forever!”  First of all, chocolate is very nice, and it can make you happy for a short period of time.  But that same chocolate will be through your digestive system in a matter of hours…and then what are you going to do?  Chocolate does not provide love for the long term.  It is your attitude toward love and how you treat your lover that makes love work.

Now if you’ll all turn in your Bibles (if you don’t have one, you should get one…but it’s posted below)  to 1 Corinthians 13 you will then be able to see the attributes that lead to good love!

1 Corinthians 13:

 1 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
 8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
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Now, let us go through the attributes of love in biblical times and compare them to Western culture today.
Love is patient:
In this utilitarian society, it appears that some individuals do not have the time to be patient with their families…these individuals are always busy and on the go with their careers.
Love doesn’t envy:

Unfortunately, in todays world, envy seems to be the way of it.  If you become unhappy with your partner you can just divorce them on a whim and find someone better.

Are divorce rates in Canada is going up or down?
Statistics Canada presents us with the following rates of divorce throughout the years:
Years No. of divorces Rates per 100,000 population. Rates per 100,000Married Couples
1921 558 6.4 N/A
1941 2,462 21.4 N/A
1961 6,563 36.0 N/A
1968* 11,343 54.8 N/A
1969 26,093 124.2 N/A
1981 67,671 271.8 1,174.4
1985** 61,980 253.6 1,103.3
1986 78,304 298.8 1,301.6
1987*** 96,200 362.3 1,585.5
1990 80,998 295.8 1,311.5
1994 78,880 269.7 1,246.3
1995 77,636 262.2 1,221.9
* Reform of Divorce Laws
** Divorce Act (“no fault“)
*** Peak year
How common is remarriage in Canada?

About 75 and 65%, respectively, of divorced men and women remarry. The probability of remarriage between the years of 35-50 for women is 48% compared to 61% for men. For younger women between 25 and 35, the probability is 66% and closer to 80% among men. Therefore, it is obvious that age discriminates against women: the older they are, the lower their chances of remarrying. But this is not the case for men. Such is the double standard. One has to consider that an unknown proportion of this 25 to 35% of men and women who do not remarry do cohabit. But this is more likely to happen for younger divorced persons than older ones, and more likely for men than women. Nevertheless, older cohabitants after a divorce are also becoming more numerous.

Source: http://www.divorcerate.org/divorce-rates-in-canada.html

Divorce rates are steadily increasing.  And no matter how you put it, there is no way to lovingly divorce someone.  No matter what, divorce always hurts at least one person.  It should be generally avoided.
Divorce causes many problems for everyone involved, especially if it involves breaking up a family.  If you’re married, you’ve GOT TO REMAIN COMMITTED! …no matter what happens.

6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

 8 Love never fails.” :
Love does not dishonor others:
That means, not making fun of your significant other for pointless things.
Love is not self seeking:
Believe it or not, it’s not all about you, you take care of your significant other’s needs and she’ll take care of yours.  It’s a partnership for a reason, this way the needs of both of you get met.  It’s not all about the physical stuff.  If you’re not getting enough action or whatever, that’s no reason to call it quits!  Don’t keep tabs on all the bad things your significant other may have done throughout your relationship.  Focus on the good things she does for you…and the good things you can do for her.  Love is a God given gift that must be protected at all cost.  Persevering through bad times will help you enjoy each other in the good times all the more!
 
Real love is not a lost cause.  You’ve got to spread it around!  This is easy enough to do, all you need are friends and family.  Love makes the world less painful as a whole.  If we would only stop focusing on ourselves and just ourselves, and start focusing on the needs of others, the world could become a more tolerable (and much less painful) place.

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