Does love mean “never having to say you’re sorry?”
Looking back on the songs, slogans and stories that papered my path to adulthood, I’d say there’s plenty of confusion about what love is, and how it’s shown. Free love? Make love not war? No surprise that we carry the hope that love will be easy, convenient, and always make us feel good. Yet, a quick scan through the gospels tells a different story: Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
We’ve all heard the chapter from 1 Corinthians: “love is patient, love is kind . . .” Ah, and we’ve been instructed to insert our own names in place of love: “Carol is patient, Carol is kind.” Well, maybe. Some days.
Love has a cost. Even when it comes to loving our kids, our spouses, our parents, our friends. Would you lay down your life for me?
But the cost that comes to mind, for me, is more immediate, more pressing, more to the point: Would you give me an hour? Ten minutes? Five?
