Love

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Today, I received the following "message from God" as part of an application I am subscribed to on Facebook:

Love is either unconditional or it's no[t] love. You might like someone conditional on their personality or behavior or circumstances. But love accepts no boundaries. So, never say "I love you because..." for love has no cause, love comes from God.

Now, I hardly ever read this daily message, but today the link piqued my interest. It is interesting that this message finds me now when I had recently stopped telling the man of my dreams that I love him because in my eyes, my love for him was not 100% 'unconditional' as prescribed in I Corinthians 13, 4-7, 13.

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."

In reading this passage, I decided that my love for this man was not trusting and did not hope enough.

I have also realized that something that had happened to me when I was 13 had made me react very badly toward him whenever we would get close.

For years, this man has put up with my misdirected anger and mistrust, and has never abandoned our friendship rather he has continually reassured me that he was "not going anywhere" and we would "always" be friends.

Today, this first day of the new year in a new decade, I finally realized this man I have loved for almost half of my life does in fact love me back.