"Love Lived"

No matter how you slice it, if love is not lived out, then, it is not love! This morning I just laid in bed, my wife's bed next to mine, and just thought about all the things we would do together on New Years Day. One of our favorite things to do was to go skiing; to just take off up to Mt. Shasta and have a blast. I thought about what it would be like if I took her up there now; could she ski down the mountain in one of those sled like contraptions that require someone to guide it down the mountain? Would she even like it? Usually I would have my niece here with me at this time of year, which would help comfort (distract) me through what is otherwise a very lonely time of the year. Don't get me wrong, I do love spending time with my wife during this time of the year, but it is not the same; and that is what I felt this morning, lonely, but not lonely for my wife, for that she is, and I still have her to love and care for; but the companionship, that is what I found myself needing; the friendship of two people in love. There are several different kinds of love that are expressed in the Bible, and they are all expressed on many different levels. The first thing that I thought I would do this year, is two-fold: I wanted to somehow share about the love I have for my wife, while also exploring the magnitude of God's love, or love in general. Take for example the subject of my heart today; this type of love which I was longing for has two different levels of meaning; fore, it is the kind of love which can be expressed by both an 'agapao' love and 'phileo' love; the difference between the two are the levels of response expected to the love given, or shared. The kind of definition of 'agapao' is, to esteem, love, indicating a direction of the will and finding one's joy in something or someone. Which differs from 'phileo' that means to love, indicating feelings, warm affection, the kind of love expressed by a kiss. The longing I experienced which was closely related to 'agapao' was my desire to express the joy in my heart towards my wife; to show her, in one way or another, how much she means to me. While the other, 'phileo', was my desire to experience a joyful moment together; to share in the love we have for one another; or, to put it more bluntly, to get something out of this relationship, that brings me pleasure. As you can see, one is based upon a commitment towards expressing love; while the other is based upon
the expression of love. This brings me to realize how God loves me, and why knowing His love towards me, is so vitally important. God's love for me, is His desire to express to me, in such a way that I can understand, just how much He loves me; to get me to see His love for me that is not based upon my expression of love towards Him, but His to me; that is the 'agapao' type of love. Yet, He also has a desire to experience a 'phileo' type of love, which is to be brought about by my realization of His love towards me; which then brings about companionship, or friendship; expressed by feelings of longing for being in His presence, and His desire to have me there with Him... "Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because you saw miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for the meat which endureth unto Everlasting Life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for Him hath God the Father sealed." (John 6:26 & 27)