Love.

Today is Valentine's Day and like many others, it has me thinking quite a bit about love. Not love in the sense of how I will acknowledge it to my husband on this February day, but love in the sense of its definition.

In the article, What Is Love? written for the Huffington Post by Sheryl Paul. She says:

“Love is action. Love is tolerance. Love is learning your partner's love language and then expressing love in a way that he can receive. Love is giving. Love is receiving. Love is plodding through the slow eddies of a relationship without jumping ship into another's churning rapids. Love is recognizing that it's not your partner's job to make you feel alive, fulfilled, or complete; that's your job. And it's only when you learn to become the source of your own aliveness and are living your life connected to the spark of genius that is everyone's birthright can you fully love another.”

I couldn’t agree more with this statement and others made within the article. Sheryl Paul points out that love is difficult to define but all definitions support some intrinsic true. And what I have begun to notice is that the definitions often somehow acknowledge the well-known bible verse from 1 Corinthians:

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”

Love is not always easy. But, love is love. It does not change between sexes, between ages, between relationships of friendships, family or marriage. Although there are different ways of expressing your love between all of these relationships, love always remains good, love always brings about goodness in others and most importantly, while other things in life may fall apart; while pain and joy come to us, through it all, love remains.

Valentine's Day is a day to acknowledge love and care. It began as a way to honor Saint Valentine who suffered imprisonment and execution for performing weddings for young soldiers. It began as way to honor Saint Valentine for fighting for love. In the spirit of Valentine's Day I would like to stand up for love. All love.

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis say it best in this song with the help of Mary Lambert. 

Take a listen.

“A world so hateful some would rather die than be who they are

And a certificate on paper isn’t gonna solve it all

But it’s a damn good place to start

No law is gonna change us

We have to change us

Whatever god you believe in

We come from the same one

Strip away the fear

Underneath it’s all the same love

About time that we raised up”

Today, we are taught from a small age to recognize love. To acknowledge the loved ones in our lives with cards, chocolate, flowers, jewelry, etc. So I ask, on a day where love is celebrated all around the world, shouldn’t all love be celebrated? Instead of spending money on material objects of affection, why not spend energy on spreading the love though our actions to our fellow neighbor? After all, it’s all the same love.