Love, Lust and Pixie Dust

Out of all the overused words in the world, Love must surely be top of the list. I tell my friends I love them every day. That's true. I also regularly state that I love bowties, shakespeare, owl city, burning things, and frankly whatever it comes into my head to say at the time. I also use love sarcastically, probably more often than honestly: "This is why I love you" or "I love history essays SO much" being typical statements. Has the word devalued? Maybe, maybe not. But it does seem to me that it has become harder to use it in its original way: just to look someone in the eye and say I love you and mean just that.

Love. Can teenagers know anything about it? Does everyone feel it? And if you don't feel it anymore, can it ever be recovered? There are as many questions about love as people searching for it; my impression is that its life's big undefinable.

Mostly I tend to treat love as a principle. I'm a Christian who follows (as a guideline) the ethical theory Situation Ethics, where all decisions are made, simply, on the basis of love. Is it loving? Then it's morally good. (and vice versa.)  Of course, that's a simplification of the theory, but that's basically it: Love is God-given for us to give to others, go out and share it.
The crucial point in this is that love is not a noun in this description. Love isn't something you can own or put on a card or posess. It's a verb, an action you undertake even when you don't feel it, because to love is to be loving. If you love your friends, you're there for them whenever, you care for them and you look out for them, even if sometimes you don't feel like it and you wish they'd go away. That's my understanding of love, anyhow; something that gives, never taking, receives gracefully when returned. And you know what? Being loving is not easy. I don't think it's meant to be...

I don't have any good advice on 'being in love' or relationships. I'm not a councellor and I can't heal other peoples broken hearts. I'm armed with a few proverbs and a heart, and I'll do what I can do: I will love you as best as I can, because I'm human and I'll never be perfect, but God's love always will.

This is the love that never disappoints or cheats on you, that never lets you down or walks away. This is the love that comes from suffering and the brilliance of creation, not from passion and chemical equations. This is the love of the narrow road. I am loved and you are loved, and when human love fails that is the love that holds us safe, the net beneath the tight-rope walker to break the fall.