I ReLOVE YOU 101: Part 1 - More Than Words

I just saw this video going viral on my friends' posts and I thought, "Hey, that's perfect for my blog!" And so I'm forced to start my series earlier than I planned.

So, do you remember the earliest time you discovered, learned and experienced (puppy) love?

Let's face it: The Purefoods Hotdog ad clinched it with "Kids can tell." Because it's true. It's so much to say what love is when we were children: enjoying a parent's hug, sharing toys with friends, being protected and spoiled by siblings, getting licked by a puppy... everything that has the awesome "aww" factor gets tagged with a heart medal for depicting what love is.


Then things changed when we finally gets introduced to society... or TV/internet. Whichever comes first.

All those simple, pure thoughts of love gets "educated". We see our yaya literally squeaking in kilig as her favorite couple kiss on a teleserye. We hear graphic expression of passion thru songs, adorned with lyrics that seems to convey more physicality than intimacy. We see posters and ads littered with messages of sensual desire. From FM radio shows (and jokes), to movies and TV series, and even among recent animation movies — crass jokes based on love and relationship verdantly abound like the best season of spring...


And yes, saying "I love you" has become a sad, empty cliché nowadays. No matter how sincere you truly are.


I love you. What does it really mean?


I don't remember where I picked up my own ideology, but I do remember that sometime during my elementary, I had a big crush on this cute girl. And though it proved to be one of my most hilarious memories (spanning an entire school year and beyond), it did solidify a resolve I somehow came up with along the way:

• I will only say "I love you" to the girl I really like — which means I want her to be my girlfriend;
• That girlfriend is someone I really want to marry
• I can only kiss the girl I can say "I love you" to

Tough words for a 4th grader, huh?


It's sooo easy to be a kid.


But as a kid who grew up in DVBS, Sunday School and some weird twist of childhood memories which really helped me grow in Christ — I actually held up to that belief all throughout highschool and college (yes, even had the moral strength to reject any desire to court the girls when I was at my physical prime...)


ANNND flashforward past my first relationship and broken years and back to now, I realized that what held me back from seeking another relationship immediately after my breakdown err breakup wasn't a sense of bitterness. Rather, it was the same set of ideals I had as a 4th grader. A childlike personal principle I've set on myself, and without knowing, consecrate the words "I love you" to the one whom I truly feel that way.

Do you believe in "Love is blind"? 

Do you believe in "Love is a mystery"?

Do you believe in "Love is a many splendored things"?

That's how powerful words can be — Words that you hear, words that you see, words that you feel. But the most powerful of them all are the words that you engrave on your own heart: the words that you live by...


And sometimes for us who are older, do we bother to consider the kind of words we leave behind?

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NEXT BLOG

I ReLOVE YOU 101: Part 2 - Of Dream Guys, Ideal Guys & The Real Me

Coming soon!