Sometimes, it takes a lot of work to receive. It takes effort to receive love. There is energy required to extend your hands when receiving a gift.
The most poignant examples all come to mind from recent life experiences:
I have to say, I’m a little new to this whole “romantic love” thing. My girlfriend and I have been dating for about a year and a half now. She and I can both attest to it—the relationship is not 100% joy and sweeping each other off our feet all the time. The relationship is not constantly filled with exciting conversations, burning attraction, and romantic starlit evenings together. The relationship is not even always positive or easy. But we still have those moments—or at least, I do—where I understand the meaning of deep connection that people seek when they say they are looking for “love.” When people yearn for being known by someone and not just employed for physical or sexual desire. I’ve experienced those simple stretches of a couple seconds where we just gaze at each other in silence and feel totally comfortable and content.
Everyone loves the popular biblical verse from 1 Corinthians 13: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” But as I have been reading through the Old Testament and musing on real life scenarios, there are plenty of alternative dimensions to love that this popularly quoted New Testament passage seems to be missing.
