Love Sucks

...at least according to a shirt I saw on the bus. It was bright red, hard to miss, and the message was encircled in a candy heart. The young man wearing it was definitely making a statement, but I had to think about if he was just under the weather from a lonely Valentine's Day, or if he didn't understand what love is.

What's really ironic about this whole scenario is as he walked on the bus, I was listening to Sanctus Real's song, Don't Give Up. It's about the cultural norm of casual love that doesn't last. Unfortunately, today more married people have been or will be divorced than not. I had to laugh at my iPod for shuffling this way, but I really paid attention to the lyrics, and something stood out.

Your restless heart won't win, 'cause you take, but you don't give.

And you'll keep movin' on till you learn what love is.

Bam.

I'm learning more and more that the key to every single relationship is giving. It's putting another before yourself, giving of your time, attention, talents, money, and otherwise- it's different for the needs of each relationship, be it friend, sibling, parent, or spouse. But one thing is consistant- giving. After all, that's what God did for us. "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4:7-10 ESV).

Sure love is hard, but it's a sad world that rejects even the idea of it.