LOVE Actually IS…

photo credits: DeviantArt

What is Love? –probably, it is the most common question I often heard being asked. What is Love? What is it really?

I wanted to get its definition from various sources, but first lemme give you what I thought about love.

When you ask a child, what is love; they could give you innocent answers—innocent but humbling answers. But when I was a child, I thought love is something you get from family. Simple stuffs like when my papa would serve me my food on mealtimes or bring us pasalubong when he arrives home, or when mama would wake me up in the morning and accompany me at school, or when my lola would cook a delicious meal for us, or when my aunt would clean us up in the afternoon after an entire day’s play—it’s about caring. When I was a child, when people care for each other, I believe they love each other.

When I was in high school—adolescent years, I believed that love is when you found someone and have special, if not intimate, relationship with them. Even as a freshman, whenever I see those couples in the higher years holding hands while walking, talking, sitting, eating…I believe they are together because there is love. The sense of belongingness—the concept of love I learned to believe from those couples lingering in our campus. That sense that somehow your hands fit into someone else’s and they kinda felt as one…that somehow, you belong in someone else’s life…and that felt special in a way.

When I met my girlfriends in high school, a new—and better—concept of love was build: Friendship. The joy and value of camaraderie with genuine laughter, honesty and sincerity in a crowd of once been called strangers, has given me a new definition of love. That love is something that is established through time…it cannot be found overnight. It is something that can be polished through the test of time. It’s when people stick with each other through thick and thin, and accepts you for who you are­—and most importantly—for whom you’re not.

I was also in high school when I met my God. I mean, I’ve known Him ever since I was a child, for I go to church on Sundays with my family. But this time, I’ve known Him much deeper. It’s like the first time you were introduced to someone you get to know his name, but then as days go by you get to know the person behind that name…something like that. The Love of God—is my best definition of love, because God Himself is Love…and my Friendship with Him is the best thing I ever got from high school. More than the learning, fun, memories, and more friendships, it’s being friends with God is the best achievement I have in my adolescent years, and proud to say that it’s something that’s gonna last beyond this lifetime…the Love of God: it’s for eternity, it’s boundless, selfless, unconditional, most pure, most precious.

When I was a sophomore at college, our speech professor asked us to describe the color red to a congenitally blind person. Usually, the color red symbolizes love, but I didn’t include it in my definition of the color red. For me, red is a color of passion, of strength, bravery, and warmth. Love, on the other hand, is the color of white…of purity, gentleness, and fidelity.

Whenever I watch movies, I get to learn more definitions of love. That love is something we go searching for. It’s like a quest for some people. Like a chase in search for their happiness—yes, that’s it: love for most, if not all people equates to happiness. The thing is, everyone believe that it can only be found on someone else, or something else. Love is lost for some people, and they go for a pursuit—Love: it’s like a treasure crest in the middle of the cosmic sea: it is difficult to be found, but sure is worth the quest in the end. And sometimes, it could surprise us when we found out that the one thing we’ve been searching for is actually right there inside us.

Love is companionship. Whenever I see old-aged couple in the church, or in the restaurants, or simply along the streets walking side by side and sometimes holding each others’ hands…it melts my heart. They are a testament that love could endure the test of time. My parents once said that their gray hair represents all the years they have lived their lives—all the struggles, perseverance, hardships, and most importantly their achievements—that’s why they wouldn’t want it dyed…because it symbolizes a fully-lived life. And I believe that’s true. Over the years a lot of things happen…a lot of thing changes…but love, though, is something that endures all things even if all the others may fail. And I always pray that one day, when all my parents’ hair have turned gray, I would still see them sitting side by side watching the evening news and hugging each other to sleep. It always put anyone’s heart at ease when they know that someone is right there beside them with each passing day—a companion.

As a nurse, I believed that love could be given to strangers as well. It’s when you hold their hand and tell them (and believe in yourself) that it’s going to be alright…that whatever pain they may be feeling will eventually go away. It’s when you tell them to eat healthy so they could be home with their family and have a meal with them. It’s when you check on them every now and then to make sure they’re doing well. You know you have given love when your patient would sincerely smile at you and say thank you after your shift. Heartfelt gratitude is something you can’t fake, and it’s something you couldn’t easily give either. When you love your work, you tend to enjoy it and be better with it…and most importantly, people gets to appreciate it as well. And when people appreciate it, they will remember you, and things like that—simple things—that could actually make you valuable, even with the small piece of heaven given to you. Love is something that isn’t easy to give—especially to people you barely knows—but as they say, when your glass is full it overflows.

Love is a sacrifice. We often underestimate or overestimate the extent of what we can do in the name of love. Love’s prowess pushes us to go beyond our own limits, and it often takes courage to conquer our own limitations. It takes courage to sacrifice what is most precious to us for love’s sake. It takes courage to love.

Love is a miracle. Love is faith. It can make you a better person…it allows you to feel like a better person. It takes a miracle to change a person…and love is a miracle and by love’s faith it allows miracles to work in us. Some things we don’t expect to feel, to do, to happen in our life. When you love, it changes your life.

Love actually is…