What is love? Happiness Project
You may remember that I created a theme for 2020 of:
Be loving
Be thankful
Be happy
With a bonus “Be Tracy”
So….
As we move towards the end of January and the beginning of February, I’ve been working on my resolution list for February. February’s theme is “love”. To be clear, I mean more than romantic love. I’m talking about love for family, friends, acquaintances, strangers, even people I don’t like. Plus love for myself. So to have a month that is focused on love, I decided that I needed to define love. The dictionary defines love as “an intense feeling of deep affection” or “a great interest or pleasure in something”. But I think the best definition comes from the Bible in 1 Corinthians 13 verses 4-8a:
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails.
Let’s break this down:
Love is patient. The dictionary defines the adjective patient this way: able to accept or tolerate delays, problems, or suffering without becoming annoyed or anxious.
Love is kind. The adjective kind is defined: having or showing a friendly, generous, and considerate nature.
Love does not envy. What is envy? A desire to have a quality, possession, or other desirable attribute belonging to (someone else)
Love does not boast. What does it mean to boast? To talk with excessive pride and self-satisfaction about one's achievements, possessions, or abilities.
Love is not proud. One of the definitions of proud says: having or showing a high or excessively high opinion of oneself or one's importance.
Love does not dishonor others. To dishonor someone means to bring shame or disgrace on
Love is not self-seeking: To be self-seeking means having concern for one's own welfare and interests before those of others; self-serving.
Love is not easily angered. Anger is a strong feeling of annoyance, displeasure, or hostility.
Love keeps no record of wrongs. I think this one speaks for itself.
Love does not delight in evil but Love rejoices in the truth. Again, this one seems to speak for itself. If one loves others, then one does not delight in their misery.
Love protects. Love keeps safe from harm or injury.
Love always trusts. Trust is a firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something.
Love always hopes. One of the definitions for hope says: grounds for believing that something good may happen
Love always perseveres. When we persevere, we: continue in a course of action even in the face of difficulty or with little or no prospect of success.
Love never fails. When we fail, we break down; cease to work well
So that's love in a nutshell, so to speak. Stay tuned tomorrow for my January wrap-up and Saturday for my February resolution list. It will include items from January plus some new resolutions.
You may remember that I created a theme for 2020 of:
Be loving
Be thankful
Be happy
With a bonus “Be Tracy”
So….
As we move towards the end of January and the beginning of February, I’ve been working on my resolution list for February. February’s theme is “love”. To be clear, I mean more than romantic love. I’m talking about love for family, friends, acquaintances, strangers, even people I don’t like. Plus love for myself. So to have a month that is focused on love, I decided that I needed to define love. The dictionary defines love as “an intense feeling of deep affection” or “a great interest or pleasure in something”. But I think the best definition comes from the Bible in 1 Corinthians 13 verses 4-8a:
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails.
Let’s break this down:
Love is patient. The dictionary defines the adjective patient this way: able to accept or tolerate delays, problems, or suffering without becoming annoyed or anxious.
Love is kind. The adjective kind is defined: having or showing a friendly, generous, and considerate nature.
Love does not envy. What is envy? A desire to have a quality, possession, or other desirable attribute belonging to (someone else)
Love does not boast. What does it mean to boast? To talk with excessive pride and self-satisfaction about one's achievements, possessions, or abilities.
Love is not proud. One of the definitions of proud says: having or showing a high or excessively high opinion of oneself or one's importance.
Love does not dishonor others. To dishonor someone means to bring shame or disgrace on
Love is not self-seeking: To be self-seeking means having concern for one's own welfare and interests before those of others; self-serving.
Love is not easily angered. Anger is a strong feeling of annoyance, displeasure, or hostility.
Love keeps no record of wrongs. I think this one speaks for itself.
Love does not delight in evil but Love rejoices in the truth. Again, this one seems to speak for itself. If one loves others, then one does not delight in their misery.
Love protects. Love keeps safe from harm or injury.
Love always trusts. Trust is a firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something.
Love always hopes. One of the definitions for hope says: grounds for believing that something good may happen
Love always perseveres. When we persevere, we: continue in a course of action even in the face of difficulty or with little or no prospect of success.
Love never fails. When we fail, we break down; cease to work well
So that's love in a nutshell, so to speak. Stay tuned tomorrow for my January wrap-up and Saturday for my February resolution list. It will include items from January plus some new resolutions.
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