The intrinsic characteristics of love hold marvelous powers. They can distinguish between the places of death and life. Between the corner tavern, the cemetery and the splendor of a field crowned in glory with lillies. In an era of disposable diapers, disposable razors and disposable relationships, the search for love provides a potential anchor in an age reeking of superficiality.
Love's lessons walk among us like so many kindred spirits. Love's vocabulary is made up of words like hope, restraint, giving, sacrifice, togetherness, tears, sweat, toil and faith. It is a vocabulary most often associated with negativity. Yet only by enduring such tests can we sharpen love's double-edged sword.
Each person carries his/her own notion of love. Many believe the ultimate expression of love was hung on a tree at Calvary one terribly dark Friday afternoon. Whatever your personal, unique definition may be, love comforts us through the harsh reality that we entered the world alone, and we shall leave it alone. That gray zone of interpersonal relationships is where the bonds of love are forged. The résumé of man or woman blazing a trail of love often puts hard bodies and cold cash at the very top. However, the integral components of a true search for love must go beyond the shallowness typified by an episode of Temptation Island on the Fox Network.
Our personal relationships often seem doomed by the past injustices (anti-love) committed against us and/or our partner. Failed expectations and damaged hopes threaten a future of happiness and fulfillment. In the wake of these threats, it's important that we ask ourselves what kind of love we are looking for. We must set a standard and establish a treaty with ourselves not to settle for anything less.
So what kind of love are you looking for? As an adopted child, I was surrounded with enough love for 10 children. Finding love in the arms of a woman – which can equal that past – has been no easy task. During my years of searching, I have tried to live by one rule: if you want the ultimate love, you must be willing to pay the ultimate price.
Throughout my life, I've searched for the girl to whom I could say these words: “If your face went through a windshield, you'd still be beautiful to me. If you were kidnapped and the kidnappers said I must walk a thousand miles to ransom you, I'd cross the hottest desert. If you were sick and needed medicine, I'd sell everything I owned to get it if that's what it would take.”
I've been waiting to hear the words, “Who has what we have?” and “I would die without you.” Only recently, I finally did hear those two phrases from my soul-mate – who incidentally is also born on January 20th.
Ladies, don't settle for a man who isn't willing to get up in the middle of the night to take care of sick babies. A real man will be willing to change diapers, get flu medicine, cook meals and clean house because real men do whatever is necessary to get the job done. Anyone can make excuses – the chosen ones deliver whether times are fair or foul. Good men everywhere silently measure one another by such standards, for that is the way of love. The way is never easy, but it is a path that all good men must take.
Contemporary America's greatest error is in thinking that greatness is synonymous with fame. Yet such high-minded notions will remain inconsequential as long as we remain a people who dream of truth but cannot live with it.
While we look to love as a guiding light to help us discern the things we should live by from the things that we are forced to live with, we must question our way through love's obstacles.
What is the anti-love behind the evil of the multinational corporations? Why do some people pound sea otter pups over the heads with clubs? Why do some women allow growing babies to be ripped from their wombs? Is it political ideology? Is it race? Is it a lust for power, money or comfort? Perhaps it is all of them, or none at all. Perhaps it is only the work of the evil ones, the weak ones, and the ones who have left God out of their hearts. For love is patient, kind and gentle. It forgives all things and keeps no record of wrongs.
All of the earth's races, culture and tongues share the common desire to love and to be loved. We all cry salty tears and bleed rich, red blood. Love has brought us together, and I fear it is the only thing that can keep us together.
It is my sincerest desire that each and every one of you will find a true and deep share of love's treasures – especially those who feel as though their insides have gone through a windshield. Love is something many have found to be worth dying for. It is certainly worth living for.
(This article courtesy of WorldNetDaily.com.)
