Love is...

Two words followed by an ellipsis create the largest blank that could ever be filled. If you were to ask 1042 people what to put in that blank after the ellipsis, chances are you would receive 1042 different answers. The curious phrase?

Love is...

A very dear friend of mine once had posted a link to a cartoon which showed a childlike female standing behind a fence as she waved at an airplane taking off in the distance. The cartoon strip was entitled "Love is..." and the caption read, "...waving even after he's gone."

This tiny, simple picture created tears in my own eyes as I realized it was true and remembered how many times I'd stood on my front porch, oblivious to cold, rain, mosquitoes, or heat, and waved good bye to my beloved until his car disappeared around the corner. I'd never really thought of this action as love, but it is.

Love is often thought of as that powerful, sweeping emotion that causes the entire world to take on a rosy glow accompanied by the swelling strains of a mighty orchestra. With love it is possible to traverse the world in a single bound and to do heretofore impossible deeds... love gives us the ability to fly.

In the name of love, epic wars have been fought, mighty kingdoms lost, and heinous crimes committed. Love has been the inspiration for some of the world's most magnificent and alluring creations of art, music, sculpture, writing, and so on.

Many, though, do not see the true side of love. The wife who picks up his dirty socks, the husband who feeds the wailing baby in the middle of the night, the woman who hangs up from talking with her friend when her man walks through the door, the man who just holds his upset wife instead of trying to create a solution.

Love is powerful and love is a choice. More often then not, love consists of making a conscious and concerted effort to love that special person. So take a deep breath, count to ten in some obscure language, and actively choose the path of love in responding.

It is this love which is the most powerful and it is this love that cannot be moved, no matter how disastrous the situation may be. True, the other person may not deserve it, but imagine the power that comes from loving unconditionally! It is frequently not easy, but it is a choice that will save your relationship... choose to love and rise above what you feel.

Every day, I remind myself to fill in that blank with my own mantra. Sometimes it changes, but mostly it remains, "Love is... a choice."