In the dictionary, love is primarily defined as a strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties.  When a person hears the word love what probably comes to mind most often are thoughts of a person they love or romantic sentiment.  But love is one of the most dynamic words ever given to us; love doesn’t necessarily always embody a feeling, love can be an action where we must choose to love another.  Loving people when we have natural FEELINGS of love is easy, it’s when those feelings aren’t there when it gets hard.
Close your eyes and try to picture a moment in time where you were hurt by another person or a situation; recall the pain you felt in that moment.  Some of those painful feelings may even resurface when you recollect this time.  Pain is a natural feeling that occurs when we are hurt and can close off our hearts behind guarded walls.  When we are closed off to vulnerability our hearts can begin to harden, unable to feel and show love.  This can lead to feelings of anger, resentment, disconnection, sadness, bitterness, etc.  These feelings fuel our pain and prevent healing.  There is no satisfaction from retaliation or revenge, we are only left more isolated, stuck in a pattern of negativity that tends to keep growing until it eventually consumes us.
Have you ever heard the statement, “Love your enemies”?  This is a tough concept.  Why would we extend love to someone that has hurt us, or that we just don’t like, let alone love?  They don’t deserve it and even if I am willing to entertain the idea of loving someone that is hard to love, I just don’t have it in me to do so.  But take a step back and focus in on love for a moment.  We may not have the strength and will to love our enemies, but Love does.  Love opens our hearts to enable us to feel empathy towards our enemies.  Love breaks down barriers that keep us from being kind to those who have hurt us.  Have you ever heard tragic stories where someone is murdered, they interview the loved ones and they said they forgive the killer?  You think, “how were they able to do that?”.  They were able to because of love.  Mercy and forgiveness provide THEM peace, and mercy and forgiveness are rooted in love.  Forgiveness is part of the healing process. It frees us from being bound by hatred.
Love is a ticket to peace; it always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres.  When I can’t find it in myself to love the way I should, I look up.  I close my eyes and ask for the grace to be able to.  There is a fountain of unrelenting love and endless mercy available for us to receive as long as we are open to it.  And remember…LOVE NEVER FAILS.

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” Matthew 7:7-8