Yet, it is the one emotion we obscure more than any other: Love is the driver which turns blindly, speeds like a reckless teen, or never ventures beyond the comfort of well-traveled roads. Love crashes into others, sometimes like a hot wave and sometimes like a brick wall. We have each been a victim and a pursuer of love. We have each been craved and have craved. We have each wanted more and wished for less power that this thing called Love has upon us. Because, indeed, love can cloak us with bravery or secrecy; it can make us feel like a king or a peasant. Yes, love is the wand which can turn us each into Cinderella at the ball and then be the stroke of midnight all in one swoop.

Yet, we love. We love in spite of known patterns which read of unfortunate outcomes. We love in spite of the intensity of newness, the negligence we try to see differently in the face of our own complacency, and in the realization that love has less to do with ceaseless hot fudge, but more to do with keeping the ice cream from melting. Love is an appetite by which we hope to wisely satisfy. But the key may be to find the companion who sustains and satisfies. For what satisfies us today may not keep us well tomorrow. But sustaining love wraps us in protection as bones do the heart: it shields us from the terminal disease of instant love gratification.

So then what is really the complexity of this whole love thing? I recently read that if Ford and Chevy cars had the same failure rate as marriages they would certainly be put out of business. So why do we keep doing this thing called Love? Why would two imperfect beings make promises till death? That seems absurd considering the increased life expectancy, easy accessibility to the world through the Internet and travel, and the endless gamut of opportunity to rediscover life each day with new characters…even you being one of them. Yet, we do it. We want it. We dream of it as young girls and boys, search for it as teens, and commit to it as adults. We make those promises and we pray.

Let me say this, I love Love. I am a passionate lover of life, of soul, and of God. Yet, I also believe we are Love’s contradiction in many ways as the flesh is not capable of the total, unabated selfless love which only Christ can give. We know this because we have each felt the pang of disappointment, either by what we have induced in our own veins or injected in others.

Yet, here we are approaching the month of love and we will once again be reminded how we are unconditional in our ATTEMPTS to fully love, despite our failure rate. We don the hat of vulnerability to encourage and support another imperfect being which sees us as someone greater than we see ourselves.

In essence, we are God’s Love Apprentice. And we are born ready to learn how to love and be loved.

Before you sink your toes into month of February, I challenge you to see how truly loved you are by those imperfect souls who are lovers in training. And I challenge you to continue on this journey of learning and loving.  I believe the fashionable statement shouldn’t be “Live, Laugh, Love” as much as it should be “Live, Love, Learn.”

Love is a divine privilege and joy if it is well received, but is still an honor to be able to bestow it upon others regardless of how the intended responds. God feels the same way when He loves us. Be LOVING. Be someone YOU love. Be HOPEFUL in love, DESIRE no matter how many anniversary cards you have accumulated, and LEARN how to truly love not from self, Hallmark, or Cupid, but from our TRUE first and last love…love Him “with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind.”