"Love"

Love, a word defined as an emotion of strong affection and personal attachment, a virtue representing all of human kindness,compassion, and affection. Love is also described as actions towards others based on compassion. Now granted I didn't come up with this on my own, via the wikipedia, but I thought what an intriguing idea if we didn't base our Love or so called Love for one another based on their actions towards us or towards others. What if we did exactly what the bible says, Love each other, just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples. Wow, when I read this I knew I was guilty of not doing this. I haven't always loved, many times I have been bitter, jealous, envious, the complete opposite of what God has called me to be. Sometimes its easy to love, I know the first time I held one of my children I immediately knew I loved them. For me it was instantaneous. Then there are those in our lives who are an ever increasing exercise of this scripture, sometimes daily we have to remind ourselves to "Love" them. My dad was one of those people, he was intelligent, hard working, and compassionate to those who knew him. Only when it came to his family it was a bit different. It wasn't that he didn't love us it was that he wanted what he thought was best for us and defended his opinion fiercely. I remember months before he passed away he and I got into a heated argument. We were both stubborn in our stance, neither one of us wanting to back down or forgive one another. I remember being angry and hurt and using those emotions to justify what I was feeling, what I thought was right. The night before my dad and brother died, Nathan convinced me to go to my parents house and just spend time with my family which I hadn't done in months. I'm glad I did, I swallowed my ugly pride and gave up my so called "right" to be mad. What I didn't know that night, was this was it, it was my last time I ever got to show my Dad "love". Sometimes loving someone is loving them even when you don't receive love in return, sometimes love is forgetting past wrongs, past arguments,past hurt feelings and moving on from them. I'm not perfect, I haven't always loved people in my life, alot of times I've held on to hurts like a security blanket and use it every time to justify what they did to me. I've had to learn to let go and realize when I do, that's when God can do the most work, in "me". I leave you with this:
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn't want what it doesn't have. Love doesn't strut, Doesn't have a swelled head,5 Doesn't force itself on others, isn't always"me first", Doesn't fly off the handle, Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,6 Doesn't revel when others grovel, takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,7 puts up with anything, trusts God always, always looks for the best, never looks back, But keeps going to the end. -Message Bible.