Real Love

Today's was Valentine's Day. We'll it's 12:25 AM on Feb 15th right now, but the day I just lived through was Valentine's Day. I'm on vacation with my family this holiday weekend ( Monday is a holiday - President's Day in the USA ). We ran into a really rude kid today and some really inconsiderate people tonight. I was going to tell you all about this and call this post "Rude People", but I decided that writing about that kind of stuff really wouldn't be in the spirit of Valentine's Day. It wouldn't really be in the spirit of love. When I say "love", I mean REAL LOVE, not the sappy kind of romantic love that dominates Valentine's Day. How do I define "Real Love"? Well, to explain this, I'm going to do something I've never done in a blog post before - I'm going to quote from the Bible. I'm not trying to be preachy or anything - I just think the words below describe love ( in a rather universal non-denominational way ) better than anything that was every written.
Anyway, the words in red below are from the 1st letter of Paul to the Corinthians:

If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal.

And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing.

If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, (love) is not pompous, it is not inflated,

it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails. If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing; if tongues, they will cease; if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing.

For we know partially and we prophesy partially,

but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.

When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things.

At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known.

So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.