Love

Yes, I have created a new blog, considering I think it is appropriate as I move into this thing called the "real world" or so everyone my entire life told me that's what it's called once you get out of college. So far things haven't been too different since becoming an alum, I've mainly just been working and writing the many many thank you notes for all of the amazing gifts I received (I'm just going to put a big THANK YOU here to everyone for all of your love and support that you showed during my graduation. It was just another reminder of how blessed I am to have all of you in my life). Well just in this past week, I already feel like God has revealed so much of himself to me. It's crazy. So I guess I want this blog to be more about the things I am learning about Him and people and just the "real world" in general vs the many awkward situations that arise in my life (although I am sure that there will be many of those to come and I will probably still share). So this morning I was reading in Exodus and I found this scripture in Exodus 34 that said, "Do not worship any other god, for the Lord whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God." Say what? I get the whole jealousy thing, as I have spoke on it before, but the whole "For the Lord whose name is Jealous" threw me way off. So in my study bible, I looked at the footnotes that some guys decided to write, and its said to see ex. 20:5. Wow, that was revolutionary. So I go to 20:5 and it was saying that jealousy is a part of the vocabulary of love. Isn't jealousy the green monster or something like that? It's actually part of the definition of love? So then I proceed to pull out our GINORMOUS (is that even a word? whatever you get the point) aka REALLY large two part dictionary to look up the definition of love. And this my friend is the point of the story. I was quite saddened by the many definitions The World Book Encyclopedia 1963 dictionary gave me. These are some of the definitions it gave for love, "1. a strong or passionate affection for a person of the opposite sex. 2. an instance of such a feeling (an instance, really? is that all love is) 3. This feeling as a subject for books or as a personified influence 4. A loved one (I hate when they use the word in the definition, that seems completely superfluous 5. fond or tender feeling; warm liking, affection; attatchement 6. strong liking. and last but certainly not least 7. something charming. Hmm does somethings seem a little off to anyone else here? So apparently love is just a feeling now or maybe that's how its always been. I was really shocked because now I see that the definitions I just listed really are the only definitions of love we have in our society. It's just a feeling, and when that feeling goes away, so does our commitment and faithfulness to that thing or person we once "loved". In the bible, it said love demands devotion (at least that's what it meant when it said jealousy is part of the vocab of Love) I'm not saying I really know the definition of love, but I am shocked that all my fears were true. That love is simply defined as a feeling, completely conditional on our emotions. That makes me sad. The other day I was talking to my grandma and I was asking her about how her relationship with my grandpa (like how they met, and how long they dated before they married and stuff like that) and you know she said something that blew me away because my grandma is like the sweetest person in the entire world and we normally don't have deep conversations I guess, "she was like, "It hasn't always been a bed of Roses (she said this two or three times so I'm guessing she was trying to make a point). You know, one time I was told him [my grandfather] that I was going to leave and he said (here's the kicker) 'Well if you leave, I'm going with you'. And then she said, "And I've been with him ever since." Man, my grandma is awesome. I'm pretty sure my grandmother didn't always "feel" like she was in love, but it was my grandfather's devotion that kept her there. hmm. that is a strange concept for my generation to understand, committment. I am the first to say I struggle with it, terrified of it, actually. But God has taught me that it's really all about devotion. That's why when things aren't going good, you can still worship Him. That's really all he requires of us. He's kind of taken care of the rest. anyway, those are just some thoughts from a college grad. I would love to hear any of your thoughts on the subject (If anyone is still reading these, if not its fine, I write because I like to, not really for anyone else). Peace. Love. and Pura Vida