How about we start with more scripture. Yes, thats right, there are actually scriptures about the reality of love. D&C 42:22 says, "Thou shalt love thy wife (or husband) with all thy heart..." I don't know about you, but when a scripture starts out with "Thou shalt...", I am under the assumption that it's a total commandment. Therefore, love is a commandment! A commandment just like the word of wisdom! You follow that without even thinking. Why? Because it's a commandment. You better believe that thou shalt love!
As I sit here and wonder why you would not believe in love, it makes me ponder a few things about love itself. The first I'd like to address is what is love. How would I define love? This is such a tricky definition and it definitely varies from person to person. One of my favorite quotes about love is from my main man Plato. He once said, "Love is a serious mental desease." There cannot be a more true statement. Not to say that love is terrible and undesirable. Love can be awesome, but it can also drive you insane. But isn't that kinda the point. Love isn't supposed to be about knowing there is one specific person sitting somewhere on a park bench waiting for you to wander over and accidentally punch them in the face, and you look at each other and suddenly you just know! No! Love is more than that. Love is a choice. Love isn't finding that perfect person, but more about seeing an imperfect person perfectly. Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired. It is my opinion that we as humans are capable and encouraged to find another human who we are compatible with and choose to love them. If someone you love does something wrong, you forgive them. Not because they are the only one you could ever forgive because it is written in the stars and in your horoscope on the day you met them. You forgive them because you choose to love them! Love drives you insane because when you love someone, they are all you think about. Their life consumes your every thought. You live to please them, and by putting your own life second, you give up your freedom, your dreams, your life, and that is hard. It is hard but worth it, because along with that new found vulnerability comes new found life, luster, and happiness that otherwise could not exist. Let's let my pals Ewan and Nicole explain love for a minute.
Did you hear that? All you need is love! What are you afraid of? 1 John 4:18 says, "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear." I don't know how to put it better than actual scripture telling you there is nothing to fear in love. In fact, love casteth out fear. So what are you supposed to do if you are afraid of love? You are supposed to love silly. Like the Nike people say, "Just do it!"
Here is why love is so important. Are you ready? This is my point. Right here. Love evokes emotion. Love has been the subject of a countless number of songs, books, and stories. Really good ones that are good because everyone can relate to love, or love lost, or dreams of love. Explain to me this, if you can. How can you hate someone, yet know they will never leave you? Because of love. Why does it hurt to see someone connecting with another person you may care about? Because of love. Why is it possible to get a name or a face stuck in your head like your favorite song? Because of love. Why do you cry at the end of "The Last Song" when the girl with the weird mouth sees the hot guy standing on the beach outside her dead dad's house? Because of love! Don't tell me you don't believe in love when you are wrapped in it's tentacles every day of your life. So I ask you: Is love awesome? You better believe it! Is love hard? Undeniably yes. Is love worth it? Absolutely affirmative. Do I believe in love? Hell no! It's way too complicated. But don't let me sway you. I've never been in love.
"When you fall in love, it is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake, and then it subsides. And when it subsides, you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots are become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the desire to mate every second of the day. It is not lying awake at night imagining that he is kissing every part of your body. No... don't blush. I am telling you some truths. For that is just being in love; which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over, when being in love has burned away."
