By any other name would smell as sweet."
- Juliet
Names are important, but so are definitions. While some, like me, are just simpletons, others are more complex, and take time to figure out. To truly know someone is to help define who they are. We use analogies, diagrams, symbols, pictures, and many other forms for classification, but they are all just small parts to the larger whole.
This weekend we had our purity for life conference at church. It was designed for our teens to learn and grow in their walk with Christ by making a commitment to remain sexually pure. During some of our discussions, a number of questions came up (some more wonderful than others), but they all came back to the same thing: what is LOVE? Being single, I have only one perspective on loved; but it will hopefully be valuable to the other singles reading this blog.
Love is the undivided commitment to someone and engagement in knowing who they are at an intimate level.
No, I'm not sure that you will find that definition in the Bible. It just happens to be mine...I don't, however, think that it's unbiblical. A marriage has undivided commitment, but will only last if there is engagement in the relationship.
But love gets back to the idea that you are dedicated to that person, no matter what you find when you uncover rocks...right...? I mean, when I remember Pappy's statement, "Bryan, I would've divorced your grandmother a thousand times over, if..." and it makes me think that there were a lot of gross and disgusting bugs under the rocks of their marriage. But they were willing to overcome them.
Poetry and flattery are one thing, and if it helps the relationship, then use them. But wouldn't truth be more important? I guess there has to be a balance of honest discourse with unadulterated fun, otherwise only the pragmatists would have babies.
Despite this, I think there needs to be more honesty. If a person smells like a rose, then call her by that name. And if she's complex, then call her onion.
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