Love is...

Have you ever experienced true unending love? A loyal relationship that does not depend on your appearance, your attitude, your faithfulness or what you have to give, and instead being treasured forever simply because you exist. 

I believe God has this kind of love for His creation. He delights in the awesomeness of each unique piece of the universe, and desires to connect with and care for everything, from the smallest particle to the largest planet.

Vocabulary and communication are kind of a hobbies for me. Case in point, how much time I am spending here now to edit and attempt to choose every perfect word to be perfectly understood. Really, my linguistic passion is the reason I ever spend time writing on this blog. 

The use of the word "love" in our contemporary era disturbs me. It seems our vocabulary about love has become simplified and as a result our communication has become distorted. An author who spent a portion of his life as an atheist did an in-depth philosophical writing on the various forms of ideas that we call "love" and described them based on ancient Greek vocabulary. The book is called The Four Loves by C. S. Lewis.

If you will indulge me for a moment, I would like to take the concepts from Lewis and incorporate my own examples. What are some words you could use in place of "love" that might be more accurate...enjoy, appreciate, respect, cherish, admire, sacrifice?

Need - I love my paycheck because it lets me buy groceries.

Pleasure - I love this outfit because it makes me feel attractive.

• Affection - (storgē, Greek: στοργή) - I love visiting my family because we know each other so well.
• Companionship - (philia, Greek: φιλία) - I love playing soccer with friends because we have fun.
• Romance - (erōs, Greek: ἔρως) - I love dancing with my spouse because I feel special.
• Charity - (agápē, Greek: ἀγάπη) - I love volunteering at the shelter because I can invest in other people's needs.

Another part of communication is through symbols, and I am also disturbed by the way the rainbow has been used recently in a way that separates people, something that points us to individual perspectives instead of reminding us of the wonder of the universe. I believe God provided the rainbow as an ongoing message that He remembers His people and His promises. It is for all people everywhere to find peace and joy.

May we all be mindful of how our choice of words and the tone that we use has an impact on ourselves and others. May we learn to communicate in ways that can bring us unity, because we need each other.

Photo by Todd Cravens on Unsplash