I know I’m not a love expert, but I know what love is and what it can do, so why shouldn’t I write about it? I think of love as going to school. If you don’t enjoy school, think of it as something you do enjoy, like maybe a dance class. Anyway, you go each day so that you can learn and grow and become an intelligent human being who has something more to offer the world. Knowledge gives you a whole other level of confidence and abilities. That’s what I believe love can do, and to support my belief, here are the other 3 things that have to do with love and relationships.

#4 Love Should Empower You

When I was a child, I wanted to be around my parents or my big brother because I knew they could take care of me when I was scared or hurt. I went to them with questions and they were always willing to help. As children, we love people because we need them, but when we get older, we learn how to take care of ourselves and find answers to our own questions, so we, instead, grow to need people because we love them. Physically and mentally most people can take care of themselves, but emotionally we need love to keep us sane in all the other aspects of life. Love is what gives us a boost or a wider perspective. Love empowers us into becoming who and what God intended us to be. It should make you want to change your life and not just your relationship status. It should push you to be your best self and ask questions about how to act and behave. With love, when you look to the future the possibilities are endless as you think about accomplishing your greatest goals and dreams together. When you find someone to truly love, that person will inspire you in ways never imagined.

#5 Love In Movies Isn’t Real Life

There are some things that if you see are breaking, you fix rather than just throwing away. Sometimes throwing it away is the best choice, but don’t make it the only choice. If you quit because love gets hard, how will you ever be happy? Loving and supporting each other through the tough times is what makes a marriage or any relationship great. Unfortunately, the love we see in T.V. shows and movies has tainted our perception of love. We want the dragon of hardship to be defeated, Prince Charming to rescue us from the tower, and then we want to live happily ever after, but it’s really the “ever after” part that brings the biggest dragons. However, slaying them with your prince in the day-to-day routine is much more rewarding than being the damsel in distress. It’s learning to be financially stable together, serving others together, and building a life and a family together that makes up real life. Though not quite like the movies, real love and real life can still feel like your own fairytale, and it can be so much better than the ones you see in movies.

#6 To Forever And Beyond

In one of the February Devotionals on BYU-Idaho campus, Elder Neil L. Andersen told a story about a man interested in marrying a woman. The man said he wasn’t that good looking in this world, but that he’d look like a movie star she liked once they got to heaven. Well, they got married - I’m guessing their relationship was based on more than looks. It was meant to be funny, but it also made me do some thinking. This life was meant to be full of trials and tests that are hard. If you care deeply for someone who isn’t perfect, you need to realize that he isn’t meant to be perfect. At least, not now! It’s being able to see them for what they can become that we need to learn to do. Some people say it’s “seeing them through Heavenly Father’s Eyes,” and it’s true. Love is looking past the cuts and bruises of life and seeing if you’d like forever with that person. If your heart sings at the thought, go for it!

As cheesy as it might sounds, love really does hold the world together. The Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had a billboard in my hometown that said, “Family: isn’t it about time?” Family is belonging and finding joy in the simple things. It’s about giving and listening to advice, serving, hugging, caring. And that’s what love is! If you made the choice to do something with the person you love every day as a way of saying, “I love you,” falling out of love wouldn’t even be an option, so don’t let it be! If you haven’t found it yet, keep enjoying life until you do. If you have found it, enjoy life together forever and beyond.