Love is...

It is currently the month in which Valentine's Day is. And with it come many expectations about love. From my own perspective it seems like the world is telling me I need a man to feel loved, a man who will buy me a cute teddy bear, some roses and chocolates. Now don't get me wrong those are not bad things for a man to do but I think love is much more than material things and I don't think having a man will fulfill my expectation for love. Only God can do that. Sometimes though I feel myself looking for love in all the wrong places because this world we live in has gotten me to believe that love can be found in Man alone. February is an especially hard month if you are single like me because then I start catching myself searching for love often times in people and things instead of from God. I read a book once that had this statement in it, "We accept the love we think we deserve." This quote really hit home for me. More times than not I think I am undeserving of love. (Which in the grand scheme of things I am but because of Jesus I am deserving of love). So I accept things that I think will satisfy my love needs. What I am missing is God's unconditional love. Love in the way God wants us to see it is written out in the bible for us in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

That is real unconditional love that God wants each and everyone of us to have. And that is how we should all show love back to one another no matter the circumstances. Remember if you are struggling with feelings of not being loved, know that God loves you very much and cares for you deeply you just have to trust him.