The Season of Love

The annual day of hearts, flowers, cards, and candy has come and gone. Yes, I’m talking about Valentine’s Day. If our hearts were a garden of love with a major bloom only once a year, gardeners would label it an annual.  

I do enjoy annuals, but I’m more satisfied with perennials. In the floral world, they are considered enduring, perpetual, and sustained.

Perennial love is more than a feeling. We all know feelings come and go. That means there’s always a point of decision. If this love is to continue, how much am I willing to give of myself to help it grow for, and with, another person in my life?

It’s not only a question for lovers, parents face the same issue. Like my friend used to say, “Kids! They seem like such a good idea at the time.” Then the baby arrives and life is turned upside down. Nothing is ever the same and parental love has to choose to flex and grow.

If love were an elevator, it would take you to many floors. One floor would be passionate, physical love, not necessarily ending in marriage. Love requiring commitment would be found on another floor.

Loyalty, expressed in familial love, is one for all and all for one. Platonic love is real, too, a friendly desire for another’s best with no sexual involvement at all.

1 Corinthians 13 is considered The Love Chapter. Verses three through eight explain how we can choose to love through our actions. Paul wrote that faith, hope, and love abide (or endure), but the greatest of these is love!

On that note, think about your life as you read my short poem about love.

 WHAT IS LOVE?

By Darlis Sailors

LOVE is fragile, like a flower in bloom.

Nurture it carefully; let it grow.

LOVE is challenging, like a trail in the woods.

Explore it slowly; discover its joy.

LOVE is valuable, worth effort and time.

Invest it thoughtfully; reap the rewards.

LOVE is emotional, up, down, twirled around.

Buckle your seatbelt; risk the ride.

LOVE is sharing both laughter and tears.

Open your heart; widen your world.

(DS, 2018)