Lately I've been thinking a lot about love. What is it, why do we need it, and why does it cause so much trouble. At first the answers seemed simple.... Love is wanting the best for someone else, we need it because as humans we want to be needed, and it causes so much trouble because we, in our human nature, somehow manage to complicate something so simple. Then I dug a little deeper.

         Keep in mind the following are all just my opinions on the topic, and amateur opinions at that. Being only twenty, my experiences would be much different from someone who is older than me. First I'm going to tackle what love is. I find myself turning to 1 Corinthians 13: 5 ~ "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." This definition, I believe, is the best definition of love out there. Even for non-Christians, this paints a beautiful picture of what love should be and how we should portray it. This is also how we all want people to love us, whether it be a spouse, parent, sibling, friend, etc. We ALL want to be selfessly loved, even when we have done wrong.

        This leads me to the next question; Why do we need love? We crave love from those around us, myself included. We want love, and approval and affection from everyone. From our parents, spouses, even our pets..... But why. Why is it so important. That is a question that I myself have no solid answer for. I believe that the answers lie within our needs. As much as we deny it we do NEED it to feel satisfied. We were designed to be loved and to love, therefore the yearning to feel loved is bred into us from birth. No way around it. 

         But if the need is there, shouldn't it be natural and easy to love unconditionally? WRONG. This is not easy. Of course the words are easy to say, "I love you no matter what" and "Nothing you could do would make me stop loving you." Most of us have probably heard and said these words or something like them to someone, but did we mean them. Where is that person now, do you still love them in an unconditional manner. I know I have said that in the past and those people mean very little to my life now, (I am very ashamed to admit that but it's true). It's hard to love someone unconditionally, complicated. But WHY. The answer is simple; because we are human. Because of our pride and various other imperfections it is difficult to love unconditionally. We try and try but anger, arguments, and pride prevent us from loving all people unconditionally. Sad but true.

          Well if it's so hard should we even bother. Of course! Love is an awesome thing, and although we haven't perfected it, our attempts at showing it are beautiful and wonderful.  Well, there's my thoughts on that topic...
For What It's Worth.