TURNER

“Love a word that comes and goes, But few people really know, What it means to really love somebody, Love, though the tears may fade away, I'm so glad your love will stay, ‘Cause I love you, And you show me, Jesus, What it really means to love.”

These lyrics are a few stanzas of a song written by Kirk Franklin entitled ‘Love’, a word that is thrown around too easily. Some people use it to gain leverage from others. While others may use it in place of like. I learned a long time ago that the word Love is a strong verb that shouldn’t be so easily and openly used.

I remember the first time the word Love was used to gain leverage. It was used like an exchange or bartering of goods. Because the certain individual stated that he loved me and began to profess how deep the love he had for me. I dropped my guard and trusted him, and misguided trust was used for leverage that benefited him and left me alone, crying, sad and heart broken. He said all the right things which caused me to trust him more. From that moment on it was hard to trust people when they used the word Love to express affection. I first had to heal and understand the word even more. I took a moment to realize what God says about love and the action that He showed to prove His Love. John 3:16 (NKJV) says, ”For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” In this scripture love was shown as an action. The action was God giving. He gave His son, so that we could have eternal life.

The more I allowed Him to show me His love the more I began to trust and allow others to enter that private space of Love. I also learned from my oldest bonus daughter that Love is a verb that’s an action word and when she loves you, she proves it by showing you. I’m so glad that God loved me enough to give. Who did He give? His son to us so we can live again. We, as a whole should practice showing God’s love not just during the month of February but show it throughout the entire year.

Sometimes people have a hard time loving others because they lack loving themselves. Loving yourself first is the key to loving others. How do you love yourself? By seeing yourself through the lenses of God. Seeing the flaws and imperfections and loving yourself in spite of them. Knowing your worth and value also helps you to love others, and that allows you to let others love you. When you don’t know the value of something you mishandle it. If you saw a 5-karat diamond ring you wouldn’t give it to your baby to play with. Not unless you didn’t know the worth of the object. Knowing the worth of something causes you to cherish it more and you aren’t as easy on others handling it. Know your worth and value so that you won’t allow others to mistreat you. Allow love to build you up. Love never fails.