She stood in front of the mirror in the now quiet bridal room. Her long, dark hair was pinned up loosely on her head as the beautiful white veil trailed down her back. She could hear the faint sounds of Canon in D echoing through the halls of the old chapel.

With a deep breath, she carefully lifted the front of her taffeta gown so not to step on it. With a bouquet of fresh flowers in one hand she grabbed her daddy’s arm with the other and together they walked. With a smile on her face and a tear trickling down her cheek, she started down the aisle to marry the love of her life.

As women, whether we are married or not, we can all picture this scene unfolding. Many movies, books, and songs have been written about such an occasion. But I’m curious, what word comes to your mind when you picture this wedding?  For me, it is the word Love.

As Stacy introduced last week, we are going to look closely at each of the Fruits of the Spirit and spend about a month on each one. This month’s theme is love. There is so many ways this blog entry could go, but I have decided to take a stab at defining love. It’s a word that I have struggled to understand the meaning. It seems that there is a barrage of definitions of love depending on who you ask.

I often categorize love. For instance, there is the love I have for Jesus, the love I share with my husband, the love I give my children, the love I extend to my friends, family and extended family. It’s not that I have more love for one than the other, just different. Welcome to my analytical world…….

One thing that these “loves” of mine all have in common. They are all about the relationship. Yes, I flippantly say, “I love chocolate,” or “I love to write,” but I really believe the true meaning of love is found in relationships.

Just as my relationships grow and mature over time, so does the meaning and understanding of love in my life. Without relationships, and especially my relationship with Jesus, I don’t believe I would have any understanding of love.

I’m sure we have all seen a bumper sticker that says “God is Love.” It’s easily overlooked, and may seem like such a simple statement, but there is such a significant truth to it.

“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” 1 John 4:7-8

I think we will all agree that we are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). Let’s take that thought a step further. Not only were we created out of love, we were created with an innate desire to give love, and a strong need to receive love. Love is the essence of who we are as human beings.

I realize that there are circumstances that have wounded many of us and we feel un-loveable or we don’t fully know how to love, but it is clear to me in scripture that love is not about a feeling. It is a solid foundation on which we were created—in the image of God—the image of Love.

I don’t know if we are capable of fully understanding love. I believe there are some things that will remain a mystery until we meet our Savior face to face. For now, there is one place we can turn that will bring some understanding to this beautiful, four letter word.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  Love never fails.” 1 Corinthians 13:4 – 8