Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, today (did you know?) is Galentine’s Day. It is the day to celebrate friendships.
According to Cosmopolitan magazine online, Galentine’s Day is worth celebrating “because regardless of whether you’re coupled up this month, romantic love isn’t the only kind of love that deserves all the attention.”
The Greeks had multiple words for love.
Philautia is love of self. Though it can become selfish, it is actually really important as a foundation for loving others (many verses in the Bible refer to loving others as self, so if we do not love self, how can we love others?).
Philia is the love of Galentine’s day … it is the love between friends who share mutual affection and devotion.
Ludus, or playful love is like the flirty interchanges between people who just meet.
Eros, or sexual love. THIS is what seems to be most ‘advertised’ leading up to February 14.
Pragma is the long-haul committed form of love.
Storge is love within families and/or friends who feel dependent on each other.
Mania is … not a healthy form of love. Think obsession.
Agape is the most unselfish, undemanding. There is NOTHING required or expected from someone loving in the agape way. Truly, I think it is other-worldly, for how can one love, and love, and love and never (not once) expect something in return, yet keep loving? There is only one who can love like that.
Jesus love is that agape love. He loves and loves and never, not once, expects anything in return. That is not to say that he does not hope for us to love him.
Whenever I think of agape love I think of the love a mum has for her newborn. That is full-on, full effort love. There is no payback, no guarantee of the love being reciprocated. It is just 24-7 work! And yet, mums do it. They love, because this child is theirs … irregardless of whether or not the child chooses to (ever) love back.
Love is … so varied.
My mind keeps coming back to the Cosmo quote,
romantic love isn’t the only kind of love
Don’t get me wrong, lit candles, sweet words whispered and spine-tingling touch are delightful, but love …
love is more than flowers and feelings. It is more than wrapped gifts and going to a restaurant.
It is more than receiving …
it’s giving, and hard, and for the benefit of another/others.
Here’s the thing …
We love each other because he loved us first
1 John 4:19
No manner of love, be it for ourselves, our family, our lover, our friends or neighbors …
none of it is possible except that the ultimate love was offered to us, at a cost, by the very creator of heaven and earth and us.
And so, as we stock up on Hallmark’s priciest greeting cards, and boxes of chocolates, and light the candles, and share heart-shaped cookies, this love of a day or of 365 days … they are all possible because we are loved, because He loved us, giving his best and brightest as evidence.
itsawonderfilledlife 