I Believe in Love!

I've been thinking and praying and pondering and wondering a lot about LOVE lately.  I believe in love.  It's what life's about today and forever.  I have experienced love in my life.....love of God, love of wonderful family, love of good friends, love of strangers I don't even know but recognize as brothers and sisters, love through service, love of country.  I am looking forward to love of a spouse and children.  :)  I'm definitely a hopeless romantic!  :)  ....but hopeless might have two meanings (for the time being).  :)  Don't you love the letter from Sleepless in Seattle?  :) "Dear Annie, thanks for your letter.  It was great.  You sound neat.  We're so excited about meeting you in New York on Valentine's Day and seeing if we are M-F-E-O [MADE FOR EACH OTHER].  See you soon.  Sleepless in Seattle."   


I've been trying to find the hope of LOVE in life lately.  Do you remember the game where you had to think of a song with a certain word in it and keep going around until someone couldn't think of one?  Well.....love's probably one of the easiest words to use in that game.  Everyone loves love and sings about love.  :)  The scriptures are FULL of love!  :)


According to the Topical Guide, love encompasses "affection, benevolence, brotherhood and sisterhood, charity, love within family, fellowshipping, friendship, love of God, grace, kindness, continuing courtship in marriage, and being a neighbor."  I love these ideas.  We could study and spend our lifetime learning and trying to live these principles, and I think that's exactly what life's about.  Believing and hoping and living with love!!!  Sharing it everywhere you go and expecting it to return to you.

• "Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her." (Gen. 29:20)
• "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all they heart, and with all they soul, and with all they mind....Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." (Matt. 22:37-39)
• "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."  (John 3:16)
• "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.  By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." (John 13:34-35)
• "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13)
• "And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." (Rom. 5:5)
• "In all things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us....Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom. 8:35-39)
• "Neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord." (1 Cor. 11:11)
• "Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.  Charity never faileth....and now abideth faith, hope, charity, but the greatest of these is charity."  (1 Cor. 13)
• "By love serve one another." (Gal. 5:13)
• "Be rooted and grounded in love....and know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God." (Eph. 3:17-19)
• "Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." (Eph. 4:32)
• "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it." (Eph. 5:25)
• "Love one another, for love is of God...God is love....There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear."  (1 John 4)
• "I have beheld His glory, and I am encircled about eternally in the arms of His love." (2 Ne. 1:15)
• "Press forward with  a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men." (2 Ne. 31:20)
• "Bridle all your passions, that ye may be filled with love." (Alma 38:12)
• "There was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people." (4 Ne. 1:15)
• "Pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love." (Moroni 7)
• "Let thy soul delight in thy husband." (D&C 25:14)
• "Love they wife with all they heart, and cleave unto her and none else....Thou shalt not speak evil of thy neighbor....Thou wilt remember the poor....Thou shalt live together in love." (D&C 42:22-45)
• "Truth embraceth truth; virtue loveth virtue; light cleaveth unto light; mercy hath compassion on mercy and claimeth her own." (D&C 88:40)
• D&C 132

There are some sweet songs, thoughts and examples reminding me to believe in love lately:

• Happily Ever After - Jenny Phillips
• You Had Me from Hello - Kenny Chesney
• I Know You - Sleeping Beauty
• Grow Old with Me - Peter Breinholt
• Where Love Is - Joanne Bushman Doxey and Norma B. Smith
• Fill the World with Love - Leslie Bricusse

Did you catch all of those lyrics in Fill the World with Love?  So sweet!

In the morning of my life I shall look to the sunrise.
At a moment in my life when the world is new.
And the blessing I shall ask is that God will grant me,
To be brave and strong and true, 
And to fill the world with love my whole life through.

And to fill the world with love
And to fill the world with love
And to fill the world with love my whole life through

In the noontime of my life I shall look to the sunshine,
At a moment in my life when the sky is blue.
And the blessing I shall ask shall remain unchanging.
To be brave and strong and true,
And to fill the world with love my whole life through

In the evening of my life I shall look to the sunset,
At a moment in my life when the night is due.
And the question I shall ask only I can answer.
Was I brave and strong and true?
Did I fill the world with love my whole life through?

A couple of other important thoughts I've had about love include not judging others--loving unconditionally.  We need to be ourselves and let others be themselves and love them for who they are.  That's love.  I think it's through opening our hearts and our real selves to others that we'll find love.  :)  Also, our believing in love should not depend on anyone else's love for us.  I think there are definitely people and circumstances or examples that help us believe in love, but love is a choice.  We choose to love and we choose to believe in and share love.  


“God is eagerly waiting for the chance to answer your prayers and fulfill your dreams, just as he always has. But he can't if you don't pray, and he can't if you don't dream. In short, he can't if you don't believe.” ― Elder Jeffrey R. Holland


I believe in love!  <3