What is love?

A friend’s 6-year-old child recently asked that their parent post a question on Facebook:

What is Love?
(serious answers requested)

The post elicited many responses – thoughtful, and amusing, and satisfying, and serious, and silly.

Here are some of my favorites:

“Evolutionary biology meets self-awareness.”

“Love is when you have two cookies and even though you really like cookies and would really enjoy eating both, you give a cookie to the person you love because you know they like cookies too.”

“Love is the work and tenacity for something that a crush will quit on.”

“Love is appreciating something without wanting it and caring for something without worrying about it. It’s losing yourself in the experience of something higher and better.”

“I often turn to Gordon Atkinson’s definition: ‘Love is always a choice and only sometimes a feeling. When we love, we choose to love and be patient.’”

“Love is throwing yourself on top of another person so that that person doesn’t get arrested.”

“Looking at the things that irritate you about a person and being thankful for those traits because without them that person wouldn’t be what ze is.”

“That good feeling you get when you realize that you’re connected to someone or something in any way at all. Which accounts for the ability to say we love our parents, our siblings, ice creams, sunrise.”

“Howling at the moon. Worried about someone else’s temperature. Crying at a funeral. A jealous crush. Driving all night to deliver a flower. A raw touch of heaven. The crazy thing we can’t live without. The answer to pretty much everything that matters. Our unspoken destiny.”

I offered two of my own – both of which came to me from clergy colleagues:

“Love is when you choose to turn toward someone, rather than away.” (Susan LaMar)

“Revolutionary love means that when your heart breaks, I’m crying your tears.” (Jacqui Lewis)

I wonder, UUCC, what love means to you. Share your answers in the comments section of this post.

And whatever love means to you, I hope your life is full of it.

Love,
Paige