Five Virtues of Love

Who really and truly can say they understand love except him that is love. However there are mistakes that we all make in love. Several of these often rise to the surface leaving us asking ourselves how we got there in the first place.

Faith: No love is complete without believing in he that is called love. He works in mysterious ways and in both parties of love and for love. To day many of us have two meanings of love. There is the kind we often tell our partners, this we call – ‘being in love.’ The other kind, we allocate for friends or family – sisterly or brotherly love. Regardless of how we choose to define love for one another the fact remains that without loving God first and foremost our love is never complete. Love has both sides to it, that which affords affection, giving and receiving in turn. For there to be a balance on both sides we must love God first and foremost. With God’s love in our hearts our love for each other would have balance and direction.

Patience: God teaches us that patience is a virtue. If we do not believe in God this is a difficult attribute to contribute to our love for one another. Quite simply the time and patience it takes to wait on one another has no reason. It is never sufficient especially in the times in which we live to wait on anyone whilst receiving nothing for our efforts. However to wait in hope we must have faith. If we believe in God then faith is already built within. God would control our time of patience and understanding until it is our turn to receive.

Long suffering: When we first state the words: I love you, or I am in love with you, we rarely think of the consequences and demands that come with this. We think that having declared our thoughts of this nature they should be received with equal measure and acceptance. This is an untimely mistake on our part. Love has its own rules and he that is saying those words must be prepared to abide by these rules. God’s love towards us is long suffering unto us. This means regardless of whether we believe in him or not he loves us, hence allowing his son, our Lord and savior to die for us. God’s love is boundless which means we merely have to say we believe in him or repent for a wrong doing and we are instantly forgiven. God’s love is such that even when we do wrong and curse him he is still willing to look beyond this and take into consideration every other aspect of our being. If we believe in God then it is easy to learn and pass on this type of love to those whom we say we love or are in love with.

Fear: Love has no fear or boundaries. Fear has torment, the loss of self being for another. Love has none of these attributes. It accepts what lies ahead of it regardless of what this might be. God loves us ete
ally. This means on our path time and again we may lose faith. We may turn away from him. Yet when we return he is willing to accept us regardless of what may have happened. If we can reciprocate this type of love in our own life to those we love then there would be no fear in giving unconditionally.

Honesty: Without honesty true love ceases to exist. Honesty overcomes fear making us know that we trust in our love to carry us through. Honesty accepts long suffering knowing that if we have failed in our love for some one or vice versa time would eventually heal the wound. Honesty knows the truth can only make our love stronger regardless of how it appears to be at first. This is why faith is so important in love.

If we have each of these five virtues of love sown within our hearts then our love is complete.