We all know it when we feel butterflies and some say, moths, in our stomach. But this is not what I presumably meant by love. Rather love can be understood more clearly if we thought of it in terms of a learned responsibility - minus all that feelings, emotions will then come later, you will see by what I mean.
To some girls, all things flowery and sweet makes them feel genuinely loved , - on the surface, that is. Love really happens when we allow discipline and responsibility as an act of service. And Love expresses itself best not by words , gifts or hugs, but reaches its pinnacle when it becomes a responsiblity to give instead. Love is truly in itself when we offer ourselves to our lover outside the love curtains. In essence, what we do for our lover when they are not around, and without them knowing what we have done for them speaks volumes.
Love acts on its own sometimes (most of the times in fact)
And it works even without reciprocration. That doesn't mean gifts and hugs shouldn't be part of any relationship but importance clearly should be given to acts of service -- the giver of it would expect nothing in return, that includes appreciation from the taker as well.
What i really mean here is unconditional service -- What Jesus always said to His disciples --"What do you want Me to do for you?", and it is clearly this act of service which seeks no appreciation or return that spurs greater love between lovers. Now Jesus was always the man giving the service, and as a fully functioning person , that He was also God condescend, He was not exempt from the temptations that men faced. Jesus showed the perfect example of unconditional love in the garden of gethsemany( the place where He was captured ). One of Jesus's disciples, Peter, was an impulsive man. To prevent Jesus from being taken away by the soldiers, he fought against them and even struck one of the soldiers (Malchus) and cut off his right ear.
Jesus did the unlikelihood and impossible for a man to react, He went over to heal the soldier with love - He took the piece of ear and placed it over Malchus -no, He did not just wait for Malchus to say, "Jesus! Heal me!", He went over and healed the soldier out of love, not as a feeling (how could He have loved the soldier who wanted His arrest?), but yes He did it so, as a responsibility an as an act of unconditional service. Jesus did not heal the soldier because He wanted the soldier's appreciation and respect, but because He already knew from the beginning that love was a responsibility instead, that anyone would have the capacity to love if we would all stop literally and start thinking to love one another. And that because that love conquers all, Jesus did not have to worry that Malchus would ever be the same again (and I know Malchus got away from the Sanhedrin and went about telling others about Jesus!). Malchus truly experienced love as an act of service.
So great is this love that in the Bible, it is said that there is Greatness in Serving. So from now on, let us all love one another in the same way Jesus would have done it! We can surely be more like Him a little everyday. We can all start to think about the tremendous love we can show to others!