What is Love?

How do you define love?

A blog about love could become complicated. It could also go on forever. I think I’ll keep it short and sweet.

Back when I wasn’t sure I believed in God but was sure I didn’t like God if there was a God, love gave me a peek through the door at God. At the time, I was writing romance novels and when journalists interviewed me with that smirk on their faces that said they were grateful they didn’t have to sink as low as I did to make a living, they usually asked why I wrote romance novels. I always said, ”Because love has the power to heal our lives.” I don’t know that I believed it any more than they did, but they always quoted me and it gave an aura of profundity to writing that some people viewed as just a short step up from soft-core porn.

I guess I said the words enough that I started to believe them. One day, as I searched for something to believe in, I realized that maybe love was powerful enough to become my Higher Power until something better came along.

My concept of God has changed and grown and so has my concept of love.

Here’s how I define love: Love is not how we feel about someone; love is deciding to be a force for good in someone’s life.

That covers a lot of territory; it makes my choices, my actions, my words pretty clear. It means I don’t even have to like a  person in order to love that person. It gets pretty simple. Not easy, but simple.

Illustration by Salvatore Vuono

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