Saving those three words for times it truly counts
By Ricky Calderon
IV Leader Staff, Feb 15, 2007
Love is wondrous. Love is dangerous. Love whispers in our
ears and shouts inside our heads. It binds us together and it tears us apart.
It strips those of us afflicted by it of every shield we ever
hid behind, reduces us to a person who was never meant to be left vulnerable. It
cripples us and it forces us to walk on feet that we never knew we had. It
blinds us and lets us see things that we never knew were there. Love kills us so
that we may live.
We sacrifice everything for just a taste of it and we give
everything to defend it. We are nothing in its presence, but we are everything
within its embrace. We live for love and we die for it. Love should be all of
these things, shouldn’t it? Isn’t this what we mean when we say those three
little words? This is what love is, but is that how we treat it? What kind of
meaning have we pinned to love?
Love is a delicate and privileged thing. People give up what
they want most and deny themselves in order to pursue love. After every sort of
test, every show of commitment and expression of truth, love becomes the only
thing left to convey.
In a way love is not first, but last. After everything has
been said, once everything has been learned, those three words can be said
without any lingering doubts.
It is a phrase of exemption, for those brave enough to embark
on such a journey. Our capacity to love sets us apart from everything else; yet
our ability to express such a complex emotion has been taken advantage of. “I
love you,” in all of its forms and languages, is said too often.
It is a phrase that has been diluted, watered down from
overuse until it hardly resembles the greatness that it inspires. Its meaning
has been lost to us; lost to the point where it is treated as just another word.
It now lacks attachment; it has lost the power in its utterance.
We say it now because we think we should. It is said without
regard for the weight that is carried with it. It has become a lost word.
If we can remember what this word truly means, then we can remember what has
been lost.
If you read these lines and recognized something, then
understand and respect the word for what it is. Realize that those words are
fought for; realize what they convey and what they promise.
Although love may be the first thing on your mind, it should
be the last thing that you say.