This is love!!!!!!

It's that time of year where couples act romantic and singles complain of loneliness.  People hate this holiday which seems ironic since the holiday is based on love.  Something about this has me confused, but has also allowed me to truly understand choices in my life.

Love is an amazing thing.  It is something we spend our wholes lives looking for, trying to give, and wondering if we will ever really experience all that it encompasses.  We say we have loved and lost, but this again to me doesn't sound correct.  So in honor of Valentine's Day here is my take on love.

When a person tries to define love really all they are doing is describing attributes of love.  Love is undefinable only because it is the most powerful thing one person can ever experience.  Hence why I believe we do not love and loose we actually love stronger than we ever thought was possible.

I know of a girl who truly loved someone stronger than she thought or understood.  She met him and right away she felt a connection.  Like most love stories the relationship moved fast and forever was discussed, but these two didn't capture forever together.  She broke up with him because in her heart she knew she couldn't be his forever.  They both wanted different things and although both loved enough to sacrifice in her heart she knew this wasn't what either truly needed.  She smiled when she was informed he had found his true eternity.

This is love!!!!!!!!

A husband holds the hand of his dying wife.  He looks in her eyes for the last time reassuring her of her beauty, strength, courage, and wisdom.  He asks for any final advice and she gentle whispers, "It's okay not to stay single for long."

This is love!!!!!!!

A man and a woman promise their hearts to each other.  On their anniversary fifty years later they hold hands as they look across at the friends and family who have witnessed the good times, bad times, moments of great joy, and moments of deepest sorrow.

This is love!!!!!!!

A girl let's go of any type of hope with the guy who told her, "I will never date you." and asks if he is okay when his world hits a few bumps.

This is love!!!!!!!

This same girl realizes someday she will have the opportunity to be loved the way she has loved others.

This is LOVE!!!!!!!

My hope is this Valentine's Day we will pause a brief moment and really look at what love means in our lives, how we have experienced love, and what love has for us in the future!  I know I am grateful for the love I have experienced and look forward to the love I will have the opportunity to experience the rest of my life.  I am not sad because I am single I am glad that I know what love is!