Love has always been a difficult thing to explain. Ever since mankind came into existence, love has always been questioned; everyone wondered how and why it is here. Love is about trusting someone with something that belongs to you and not expecting anything in return. Love is just... Love.

The day I met the love of my life, however, was not all sunshine and rainbows. That morning was a bad day for me, horrible, in fact. Nothing was going right for me. Sometime that afternoon, though, I received a Facebook message from a friend I met on campus (one of my first friends here at Bethel) and he introduced me to the young miss Kristen Wilkey. My heart hadn't beat that hard in a long time. She amazed me. I know this sounds cheesy, but it felt like love at first sight. I had to know who she was. She made me feel alive again, and I wouldn't be who I am today without her. I was scared I'd scare her off. I was still halfway new to the whole big idea of love.

I've never really thought highly of myself, but...

She has made me think and feel differently. She has taught me to take the things people say (and sometimes what I say) and throw it all away, because none of that matters, and you know someone loves you when they can always find a goodness in the gap of your flaws. Love is something we all long for, but it's not always something we fight for, like we should do. She has taught me that no matter what bad I find in myself, she can always double that with the good in me.

Love isn't something to take lightly, or take for granted. It's a powerful emotion, and when taken advantage of, it can be devastating. Love turns into hate when misused, because more often than not, people tend to hate those whom they used to love, but were betrayed by them. More often than not, we don't hate people we don't know at all.

Learn to love everyone.

And I do mean everyone. It is very hard to love everyone, and not everyone is love-able or deserves your love. Loving someone who doesn't like you very much is like setting fire to their heads anyway, because they don't understand, and will probably never understand, why you are doing it. It's a powerful feeling.

Love yourself.

It's hard to love others when you can barely love yourself. Loving yourself is the key to loving others, because if you can see the flaws in yourself and not any of the good, how can you see good in anyone else? This is why when I say love everyone, I do include the self, because that is a crucial element to leading a happy, love filled life.

So was it beginners luck that I found Kristen? I think not. She taught me how to be me, how to love myself and everyone around me, but most importantly, she taught me how to be happy again.