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3 Reasons I Still Believe In Love

Love

"Three things will last forever - faith, hope, and love - and the greatest of these is love."  

-1 Corinthians 13:13 NLT

"All you need is love." 

-The Beatles

"Where there is love there is life." 

-Mahatma Gandhi

To Love and to be Loved

Have you ever been in love? Are you in love now? Did you ever love someone that didn't love you back? Were you in love and fell out of love? Has someone loved you that you didn't love back?

It's been said that love hurts, and that love heals. Love can make you feel invincible, and love can break your heart. When love leaves you in a valley of despair, it's easy to give up and not believe in love anymore.

Yet all of us feel the need to be loved and connected. We yearn for the happiness that love brings. Knowing the reward of love, we are willing to risk heartache, despair, rejection, and embarrassment just to have a chance at that feeling.

Love may be one of the strongest fundamental needs we have. Most people base their levels of happiness on whether they feel loved, needed, or cared for by someone else.

Love is powerful. It can:

• Improve our sense of self-worth
• Help us heal faster
• Motivate us and strengthen our resolve
• Build trust
• Overcome fear
• Remove limitations
• Reform bad behaviors
• Promote kindness and giving

New Love. Failed Love. Old Love.

No two people have the same love story. Everybody's chapters are loaded with twists and turns. The peaks are wonderous and majestic while the valleys are lonesome and unsympathetic.

Love is magical and the view without end from the mountain top. You want to share your good fortune and look forward with anticipation to the storylines yet to be penned.

It is easy when walking through the valley of heartbreak to never want to write another chapter or hear about love again. Why put your heart out there again only to have it swatted down?

I can relate. I've been in the fast lane of love only to crash and burn. Relationships have ended, leaving me crying on the front steps. I wanted nothing to do with Cupid except to swipe one of his arrows and shoot him in the backside. I believed he had it coming.

But love is hard to keep at arm's length. As much as our survival instincts tell us to run the other way and avoid getting hurt again, love finds its path back to us. 

"There is never a time or place for true love. It happens accidentally, in a heartbeat, in a single flashing, throbbing moment." 

-Sarah Dessen

Every love experience helps to shape those involved. Bad experiences make it easy to want to give up on love and just move on. If you have doubts about love because you're in a rough patch or experienced failed love, don't give up. I want to share with you why I still think love is grand.

3 Reasons I Still Believe In Love

God's Love

God is love. Yes, he is awesome, mighty, just, and powerful but God is love. 

"But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love." 

-1 John 4:8 NLT

Read: A Matter of Faith

I am flaw-filled and mistake-prone and yet the Creator of the universe still loves me. I didn't earn it because I couldn't. I sometimes make poor choices and act with poor judgment but still, He says "I am fearfully and wonderfully made" -Psalm 139:14 KJV

His love is unconditional and that's a pretty high benchmark. He sets the example for true love. That's my number one reason for believing in love.

God, I love you.

Mom's Love

I didn't hear the term "love at first sight" until I was older, but I experienced it before I learned the words. I loved my Mom from the first time I opened my eyes to see her and have never stopped.

"When you look into your mother's eyes, you know that is the purest love you can find on this earth." 

-Mitch Albom

My Mom worked tirelessly to provide a safe and secure home, but most of all she provided a home filled with love. She was strong and competent, laying down the "law' as needed, but not a day went by that I didn't know and feel her love.

Today, she remains a cheerleader and an example for me. She is always there to encourage me and express her love. I will continue to tell her how much I appreciate all she's done as long as I have her on this earth but that won't be enough time to do it justice.

"A mother's love for her child is like nothing else in the world. It knows no law, no pity, it dates all things and crushes down remorselessly all that stands in its path." 

-Agatha Christie

God's love and Mom's love. Two experiences with unconditional love. Two reasons to still believe in love.

Mom, I love you.

Barb's Love

I experienced God's love and Mom's love. I could stop there and say I lived a charmed and blessed life. Ring the bell. Close the book. I can't imagine my love story getting any better. How could it?

Then I met Barb. My darling wife and best friend. I thought I had been in love before. I cried when those relationships ended. I wondered if I'd ever find the "ONE". Was that even possible?

"He felt now that he was not simply close to her, but that he did not know where he ended and she began." 

-Leo Tolstoy, Ann Karenina

It was possible. Beyond reason or honest expectation, I met the woman that would change my life. Barb became the most beautiful name in any language.

Remember that 1985 movie Weird Science. Gary and Wyatt used a computer to plug in all the things they wanted in their ideal woman, and "poof", Lisa appears. Pretty cool trick if you can swing it.

Luckily, I didn't need to rely on computer skills to build my perfect woman. God designed someone better than I could have thought or imagined. And unlike Gary and Wyatt, who didn't end up with Lisa in the end, Barb entered my life and has been by my side ever since.

"In all the world, there is no heart for me like yours. In all the world, there is no love for you like mine." 

-Maya Angelou

I met the best person in the world, and despite all my shortcomings, Barb has loved me more than I deserved. She has filled my life with passion and care through every up and down that life has tossed our way.

Read: Marriage That Lasts

Barb has showered me with love and affection for four decades and our journey has just begun. I treasure every moment with her and would rather spend my time doing nothing with her than anything else in the world without her.

I hear people say that they "fall out of love". People announce that they've changed and have "grown apart". 

Barb is another reason I believe in love because my feelings have only grown stronger over time. She still turns me on (sorry Mom). She still makes my heart skip a beat. Her smile still melts all my worries away. 

"Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the Lord." 

-Proverbs 18:22 KJV

Most of all, she makes me feel like I could never make her understand how much I love her, but I'm going to keep trying.

"I love you because the entire universe conspired to help me find you." 

-Paul Coelho, The Alchemist

Barb created a family that I could have only dreamed of being part of. I send my love out to Kelly, Greg, Joshua, Elissa, Ally, and Chance. I love you like crazy.

God's love and Mom's love and Barb's love. Three experiences with unconditional love. Three reasons to still believe in love.

Barb, I love you.

Last Thoughts on Love

This blog was my personal declaration of love but was still written in the hopes that you that have given up on love will change your mind. 

The love I have received has not been because of riches, fame, or because I deserved it. That makes it all the sweeter. So don't wait to look for love until you are worthy.

Love is all around. Be open to it and it will find you when you least expect it. 

Love will find a way