[A repost from my old Multiply account]
Thankfully, nobody's pestering me this week about Valentines. I'm not trying to be a stuck-up person (God knows how natural I can be at that, nyahahaha) - but seriously, the marketing hype during this season is soooooo annoying. I mean, what does it mean to love, really? And so I thought, "HEY, why don't I write my own ideas about it?" So to give myself a little bit of peace, here goes my three-piece of advice:
1. Love wholeheartedly.
Holding back on love (except for moral grounds) isn't true love. But what keeps us from loving 100%? The Bible is clear about it:
"A real love for others will chase those worries away. The thought of being punished is what makes us afraid. It shows that we have not really learned to love."1 John 4:18 (Contemporary English Version).
Okay, so I might be out of the context a bit... But the statement remains true, nonetheless! We are often afraid to totally give our hearts to someone because of fear!
There's no installment plans for love: you have to give it all. Before God created us, He prepared His love nest for us in advance - so that when the first man opened his eyes, all the evidence of His love was already there! And Jesus didn't say, "Okay, I'll forgive these sins first, then some of those others later... now, I'll only be forgiving 100 people each day, so..." HE DID IT ALL AT ONCE - RIGHT THERE AT THE CROSS!
*Pardon the dramatics, got carried away*
The point is simple: Don't be half-hearted when it comes to love! Brave the heartaches! And when your heart does break, His love will bind it together again!
There's no installment plans for love: you have to give it all. Before God created us, He prepared His love nest for us in advance - so that when the first man opened his eyes, all the evidence of His love was already there! And Jesus didn't say, "Okay, I'll forgive these sins first, then some of those others later... now, I'll only be forgiving 100 people each day, so..." HE DID IT ALL AT ONCE - RIGHT THERE AT THE CROSS!
*Pardon the dramatics, got carried away*
The point is simple: Don't be half-hearted when it comes to love! Brave the heartaches! And when your heart does break, His love will bind it together again!
(Or in my case, I just let His love bleed out of the cracks)
2. Love without regrets.
2. Love without regrets.
The saddest thing about people being in love today is that they love to pose the "What if..." and "What could have been..." questions (oh well, I used to be one wahaha tralala). We reminisce about good times and bad, about our ex-lovers and would-have-beens, and all the while pounding ourselves with such depressive blows only maims us from pursuing God's will for our love lives (YES! GOD CARES!)
While we all may have some emotional hang-ups once in a while, we should never blame ourselves for not loving enough - or being loved enough. That's all in the past; you can't do anything about it - except learn from it. Having loved and being loved is a miracle enough - whether we or they deserved it or not. What's important is that we discover our own capacity to be selfless enough in this selfish world and time.
Most of all, God never regretted loving us even when we were unworthy of His love (when were we ever worthy, anyway?). And yet, He keeps on stubbornly loving us, without complaining or demanding us to love Him back. How's that for tough love?
3. Love unconditionally.
While we all may have some emotional hang-ups once in a while, we should never blame ourselves for not loving enough - or being loved enough. That's all in the past; you can't do anything about it - except learn from it. Having loved and being loved is a miracle enough - whether we or they deserved it or not. What's important is that we discover our own capacity to be selfless enough in this selfish world and time.
Most of all, God never regretted loving us even when we were unworthy of His love (when were we ever worthy, anyway?). And yet, He keeps on stubbornly loving us, without complaining or demanding us to love Him back. How's that for tough love?
3. Love unconditionally.
I believe in love at first sight. But when at second glance, the person you were enamored with suddenly transforms into a beast, will you flee? Okay, so that sounds extreme - no, it is exaggerated, really. But we all face such circumstances: we discover that our beloved only brush his/her teeth once a week, we find out that he/she snores on the jeepney (but with a cute tune!), or maybe we stumble across an old secret he/she has that made our mental shrine of him/her crumble in dismay.
Can you honestly say, "So what?"
It's easy to fall for someone - we all love to put out our best foot forward especially in a crowd. But at that point when we bear witness to that person's darkest moment, when all but the light within you seemed to be extinguished, will you choose to stay and brighten up that someone's life, no matter what? Or will you shy away and just pray that someone else will?
* * *
Hmm, I guess this doesn't just apply to romance, but to friendship as well... hehe... Now, if I can only tell these things to myself... LOLZ... *bitter XD* !
Enjoy, and may His love continuously influence us all! :03
Can you honestly say, "So what?"
It's easy to fall for someone - we all love to put out our best foot forward especially in a crowd. But at that point when we bear witness to that person's darkest moment, when all but the light within you seemed to be extinguished, will you choose to stay and brighten up that someone's life, no matter what? Or will you shy away and just pray that someone else will?
* * *
Hmm, I guess this doesn't just apply to romance, but to friendship as well... hehe... Now, if I can only tell these things to myself... LOLZ... *bitter XD* !
Enjoy, and may His love continuously influence us all! :03
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