What is love?
According to the Miriam-Webster Dictionary, love is a feeling of strong or constant affection for a person.
According to the Bible, 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
But is that what you define love as? You see love can be defined in a variety of ways. Love can be defined by the relationship you're in, love can be defined by the way a relationship changed you. The way it made you open your eyes to what love actually was or wasn't. Love can be defined by the examples of love that you've had in front of you for your entire life. Love can be defined in so many individual ways that there should be no set definition of it.
Love isn't something that is set in stone. Love isn't this thing that you find and you know exactly what it is. Love is an overwhelming feeling that burns like a wildfire in your heart. A feeling that inspires and brings people to life. A feeling that makes you push yourself to new beginnings as well as ends.
Love makes you feel. It changes you. It redefines everything you thought you knew. Love is beautiful, but it isn't always. It can be destructive and ugly. It can cause complete loss of you who thought you were. It can make you lose yourself in someone else. It can make you do things that you thought you'd never do. Love can become the most self invasive feeling that you may ever feel.
Love makes you vulnerable. Vulnerability can make you weak but being weak isn't always easy or right. Love but love yourself first. Love but know what love means to you. Love whole heartedly but keep your heart whole.
Olivia Pope said it best, “I want painful, difficult, devastating, life-changing, extraordinary love."
That's a love that is challenging. A love that has room for growth and strengthening. A love that makes you crave more.
So don't let anyone tell you what love is or isn't, but know it's worth. Love is such a powerful feeling. Don't let it define you but rather redefine it.
