True Love

I've heard about it...but how do you know if you have it yourself? It's something the Hollywood producers monopolize, but what really is it? All I've seen it as is really just a feeling when you see the person for the first time and you're like, "Ahhh...she's the one," or he, whatever. If that's what it really is, then I don't have it. But even now I think I can see what it really is, possibly, and any feedback on this would be well taken because I am by no means a great bastion of truth.

Some say that, "Love is blind." I have a friend that truly believes it is blind, and I have to disagree with it, though for his sake I backed out of the argument. I do think that a love based on feelings is blind, because the two of you are only in it for one thing: to be physical and to have physical needs met. But I don't think true love is blind. I think true love is fulfilling to your soul and that it in many ways helps you see more than you would without it.

First off, what is love? I mean "love," what is it? Dictionary defines it as, "a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person." Though it does have quite a few more definitions, I think I'd rather sum it all up with this one (for the sake of not distracting people with lewd definitions). So it's just a feeling. Love by all outside appearance is just a feeling. So based on that definition I would say yes, love is blind.

True love...that's something else entirely. My definition of true love is viewing my love through the eyes of God and what His will is for "our" lives. I say "our" lives because when you are in a "relationship" the idea (all kidding aside) is really only for one end. It's to answer the question of, "Am I compatible with this person for a lifelong relationship." True love is viewing your love through eyes of glory to God. I'm still looking at God first, something I've sometimes let slip because I let my view get blocked. :) But God is always supposed to be first in life, and this can also be applied to love.

My relationship with my girlfriend started one month before I left for VA. That doesn't sound like a lot of time to be a couple. I'm going to be gone for one year, possibly more, visiting only about three to four weeks out of all that time. That's sounding not that much fun. I don't particularly relish the idea of going through it, but I know it is God that wants us to, so I follow Him and press on. For my next step in life, after I've lived in VA for a year, will be from God, and I don't know yet if I'll move back to MI yet or not. I have to follow God.

True Love is about following God, and putting Him before a relationship. Some people don't realize how passionate and romantic God is to us, I can think of some passages in Isaiah that can communicate passion. Song of Solomon some people could say is a love letter to the church...I think that's stretching it for why the author wrote it, but it is still a good representation of how God views His church. Following God does not ultimately mean that you have to abandon passion in your life. It's embracing a pure kind of passion, one that you don't have to be ashamed of and that you know will be blessed.

A true relationship with God will help with a true relationship with a person. True love for God, is a good place to start with true love for that special someone. I know that sacrifice and a long time of being away from my girlfriend is right up in front of me. I'm going to have to do it, perhaps even again and again in my future. But so long as I follow God, I have no doubt that our love will be the truest seen in a whole generation.

In summary: Love can be blind, if it is based on emotion. If you base your love on a true relationship with God and a seeking after Him, it just follows that your love will be founded in strength and it will be a true love.