Day 5 - The Basics

So, I was thinking about what to write for today, and I realized that if I'm going to talk about love for a year, at some point I should define it (as I see it).  Well, considering I've done this recently, I figured I would copy and paste, giving you all an idea of what I mean when I say love.  The following is taken from an article I wrote for Examiner.com.  What I decided to do, instead of defining love in so many words, was to list some elements that all love should include:

• Authenticity – love should allow a person to be true to him/herself without fear of rejection.  Even if there is disagreement, the freedom to express oneself authentically should be there.
• Respect – defined on dictionary.com as “esteem for or a sense of the worth or excellence of a person,” it is important to respect and appreciate the basic human value of all people, but especially those that you love.
• Affection/care – when loving someone, it is important to feel a connection to that person emotionally.  This allows you to empathize with him/her, gaining the compassion to want to see the best for his/her life. 
• Relationship – in order for love to grow and exist, it is necessary to have a sense of commitment and consistency with the object of your affection.  Without time and conversation, it is hard to cultivate relations.
• Openness – love requires understanding.  As a personal shares authentically, there will inevitably be things that disagree with your desires, but love creates a space to discuss these without judgment.  With such open discussion, compromises and adjustments can be made to keep the relationship flowing with the differences drawing people together.

While this is not an exhaustive list, I do see it is as the basics.  This list can be applied to all relationships – friendship, parent-child, mentor-mentee, romantic partners, relationship with God, and even relationship with self.

I welcome other thoughts/ideas as to what is included in love, and later in the year, I may do an update or even use some ideas for future blog entries.  I hope this sparks some good dialogue.

To read the full text of the article, visit http://www.examiner.com/liberal-christian-in-richmond/what-s-love-got-to-do-with-it-part-1