Love this word holds the meaning of life and death. Without it there is no light and with it all the colors seem to gleam with clarity beyond the natural depth of what can be seen by the natural eye. Men and women have been known to die for this idea of LOVE or miraculously live. Most of us search for LOVE our entire lives seeking to find it as if it were a hidden treasure or an elusive dream. We yearn for its existence and yet at times despise the very thought of its reality. LOVE has more meanings than probably any word ever known to man. To each person it has its own decisive definition and emotion. We consider it a verb and action of the body, mind soul and spirit as if we actually possess it as one of our human emotions such as hate, sadness or joy. The intense need for LOVE in our lives will lead us to even cause us to find animals to facilitate the ability to express this emotion. LOVE has its own language, a universal language of the soul that needs no particular words or song to communicate its intense heat. It can be caught by the glance of the eyes from the touch of a hand and yet can be as strong as a blow of death or a kiss that resuscitates the soul. The loss of LOVE from our lives can bring us to our knees and the grip of it can quicken the heart. Most of us have understood love as an action a verb, something that we do or feel. But I pose the question to you for consideration what if LOVE is a noun, a being and a friend? What if those who search for it in others realized that it is to be found within them? To know LOVE as something more than a mutual feeling between two people. To actually come to know LOVE not in others but as its own separate entity. Why should we spend our lives looking for this LOVE? When our hearts are broken is it LOVE’S fault? I write this perspective to challenge you to consider LOVE more than what you have ever known or conceived? What if all that you ever thought about LOVE was twisted because you were taught that LOVE was an emotion instead of a person. The Bible says God is LOVE… and yet, we still think that LOVE is something that God gives to us like a gift. If God is LOVE then LOVE is God? If there is no God then LOVE is just a turbulent emotion that we experience without any rhyme or reason. It comes and it goes. What if you could actually get to know LOVE? Not love through another person…. Although… that is how we share LOVE to one another. But to find LOVE first on your own … To learn what LOVE is. So much of what we have been taught about God and Love has been twisted by the ideas of men. Religion has created such fear within that if we don’t hold to some particular doctrine of faith or ideas then surely we are not blessed or protected by God. We have been taught what to believe by those who have been taught by men before them…. Like the story that is whispered down the grape vine until it becomes so convoluted with the ideas and misconceptions of others interpretations that we believe something that is so far from its original intent and meaning. The greatest disservice is the fact that we are actually taught not to seek outside this box and open ourselves up to allow ourselves the honor and privilege of finding God and LOVE on our own. LOVE has been twisted in many of the same ways as the idea we hold in our minds about who is God. Many say I just want someone to love me… or someone to love. When in actuality we must first know LOVE before we can actually give LOVE. There are those who don’t have love and need love. They have been burnt by the love of others. This idea of love that we have inherited from others. This love that we pass around like some sexually transmitted disease. You may think that this is harsh and hard to accept but… what if you could change your idea about LOVE? And what if those change of ideas – changed your life? The wholeness that we seek so desperately is not found in others it is found in LOVE. When we connect with others we find relationship and emotion…. But unless we understand and know LOVE that relationship can change and when it does the emotion we call “love”: changes with it. How can LOVE bear all things? Where is this kind of LOVE? When I read in the Bible what is described as love in Corinthians I think to myself that my dogs understand those words better than most people. I don’t mean to be humorous but how can I not actually see that? We love our children (most of us do but when I read the paper or hear the news lately that idea seems quite warped as well) but, many of us understand the feeling of love for a child or a parent. I believe that this is LOVE in action. Remember this is not about having love or showing love…. This is about KNOWING LOVE! Don’t you want to know who LOVE is? Have you ever even entertained such a thought? Most of consider the thoughts about God and who He is…. LOVE has inspired more prayers and songs than any other emotion. Maybe ….. Just Maybe? We could lay down our idea about love that we have been taught or even felt and ask LOVE to teach us, to be our friend? To change our hearts and minds? If we could know LOVE ( this person … noun) instead of the verb ( emotion) we may find a whole new world and the wholeness we seek that comes from the inside out instead of the outside in. LOVE is a teacher…… What must we learn? Our relationships fail in so many ways because we don’t understand love. If we can know God personally…. Shouldn’t we know LOVE? Changing our view that love is not just an emotion but an actual person ( being) is the beginning of changing the way we think about “ love”. Give it a try what do you have to lose? And what will you gain? For if a man acquires all the wealth in the world and has love…. He has nothing……… SKG 10.25.2012