Infect your world with love

have just commemorated the International Women’s Day.
I had even promised one reader who had approached me with a burning issue of gender discrimination that I would try to tackle the matter in today’s article.
I, however, decided to postpone the matter to another day as I am set to present a paper on the same topic later, today.
So for fear of pre-empting my presentation, I settled on the topic that I had intended to write last week.
In my opinion, there is no word in the world that unites people of different races, languages, ethnic backgrounds, religions and different persuasions than the word love.
I also think it is a word that generates a lot of excitement.
It is a word that means different things to different people. Have you ever been around people who radiate so much love that you also get infected?
You might find yourself calling people around, my dear, my sister and so forth. When one leaves such presence, one carries the joy for the greater part of the day. In a small way you also radiate this positive energy to others around you. That, I believe is the power of love.
It is infectious and overwhelming that sometimes you become like the biblical Peter who wished they could build tents up the mountain top for Moses, Elijah and the Lord Jesus.
Hatred, enmity, hostility bring the exact opposite result.
It is repulsive. It also breeds more hostilities.
Pretense also is another problem that creates plastic and mechanical reactions in people.
The last time I was on a plane of an airline that shall remain nameless, there was this hostess that was very mechanical in her interaction with the passengers.
She had this plastic smile the few times that she tried to give one. I got so disturbed and wondered why she joined the hospitality industry.
In response to her, I became very restrained as she emitted a lot of negative energy. I could also sense the tension as other passengers interacted with her.
A few weeks ago I went for the early morning service at church mainly attended by women. During such services we share testimonies and praise for issues in our lives. After the message and prayers there was a time of hugging and encouraging each other. This particular day the bonding and the sisterly love amongst us was so strong.
As I reflected on the outpouring of love on this day on my way home, I concluded that the sister who had shared the message had infected the group with love.
What then is this thing called love? So often I have heard people ask the question, what is love? It has been said that love makes the world go round.
From a biblical perspective love covers all wrongs. Dear reader if you have asked yourself this question, know you are not the only one. I have also asked myself that question. With the experiences that I have had in my life I can safely say love is a disposition. It is a choice that one makes and is sacrificial in nature.
It should be basis of relationships between friends, parents and children, husband and wife, brothers and sisters in Christ and many others. Usually we expect love to be reciprocal. Does love have to be reciprocated or it is supposed to be unconditional. The Bible carries the message that there is no benefit of loving only those that love us back.
To me love also appears to have a dimension of pain. Love has many types we talk of eros, agape among other types of love.
I also think that love has counterfeits in the form of infatuation. Otherwise how do we explain the change that we see of people who become enemies after their relationship falls through?
It is often said there is a thin line between love and hatred. People try to express love in many forms such as drama, music, dance, poetry, pictures and many more. Some people see love as strong feelings or emotions.
The question however is, is love a feeling?
If it is a feeling, how reliable are emotions considering that feelings tend to depend on external circumstances?
I have observed that pledges made on the backdrop of emotions usually remain unfulfilled.
This is because feelings can come with irrationality that vanishes when the feelings subside.
Also, can we talk about love and not talk of feelings? How then do these two interact to give us the real thing? What then is true love and does love ever end?
If it ends, can we say it was there in the first place or it was one of its counterfeits? Very often in movies, love is portrayed as passion and I wonder whether our children will get to know the right thing.
I wonder – could it be the reason why divorce cases are on the upsurge?
If we could all catch on the real thing and infect those around us, then this world would be a better place.
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