Let’s Talk About Love – Randomly and with Many References

22 September 2015

The Merriam-Webster Student Dictionary defines love:

1 : a quality or feeling of strong or constant affection for and dedication to another <motherly love>
2 a : attraction based on sexual desire : the strong affection and tenderness felt by lovers b : a beloved person: DARLING
3 a : warm attachment, enthusiasm, or devotion <love of the sea> b : the object of attachment or devotion
4 : a score of zero in tennis
– in love : feeling love for and devotion toward someone

But, that definition seems to trivialize the feeling of love. Love is overwhelming.

Katherine Hepburn defined love, in her book, Me, “Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get – only with what you are expecting to give which is everything.”

When I take that definition to heart, and, when speaking of love, where else can something go, but to the heart, I understand that I cannot love too much. I cannot love too quickly. I cannot love to easily.

To love, I give everything.

In John 13:34, Jesus is quoted, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”

Taken to heart, how can it be wrong to love one another?

Years ago, I was gifted the picture book, Auntie Claus. This inscription read, “Dear Mrs. Hooker, You are our Auntie Claus.”

Auntie Claus has a first and final rule, it is, “whether it’s birthdays, Christmas or Halloween, it is far better to give than to receive.

Therefore, like in A Chorus Line, “won’t forget, can’t regret what I did for love.”

To that end, I’ll take the advice of my friend, Ana, and “never change.” I will continue to pattern myself after Auntie Claus.

Grief can be the garden of compassion. If you keep your heart open through everything, your pain can become your greatest ally in your life’s search for love and wisdom.

— Rumi