Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Studying about LOVE

In addition to studying my scriptures daily I have also decided that I am going to study topics as well. My first topic I am going to study is Love.

THE MEANING OF LOVE - Clark Swain March 1972 Ensign

  • We do not always think in an accurate way about love. One of the incorrect and irrational attitudes we tend to have is that love is merely a mystical feeling, a mysterious power that takes over; and when it comes, we “fall into it,” helpless to control it. We are prone to think that it can vanish as mysteriously as it came and that we are helpless to prevent its leaving.
  • We need to stop thinking of love as a mysterious power that has control over us. We need to think of love as a way to treat other people, rather than as something that happens to us; then we will begin to have power over our loving.
  • One of the most important things to look for in a marriage partner is the extent to which that person is able to express love.
  • in preparing ourselves for marriage, one of the most essential characteristics to incorporate within ourselves is the ability to give love as well as to receive it.
  • The morelove we give a child in his younger years, the more ability he will have to give love throughout his adulthood.
  • We need to stop thinking that it is wrong for a person to love himself. The Bible doesn’t say, “Love thy neighbour instead of thyself”; it says, “Love thy neighbour as thyself.”
  • to feel love alone is not enough—it must also be expressed.
  • A loving person respects other persons. A part of respecting people is not to force them.
  • A loving person responds to others.
  • Loving is empathizing, trying to understand how the other person feels and letting him know that we understand.
  • A loving person has concern for the welfare, progress, and happiness of the loved one.
  • Loving is giving. It is the giving of material things to others, but even more important, it is the giving of one’s time.
  • A true gift of love is one that is given with no strings attached; it is given with no concern about what will be received in return.
  • Who is richer: he who has much or he who gives much? The giver is the richer, for he always receives for having given.
  • A person who is not willing to receive deprives others of giving. Receiving is an important part of loving.
  • Loving is forgiving. A loving person forgives one who has wronged him, and he also forgives himself for mistakes he has made.
  • Another word for love is charity.
  • A loving person suffers long and is kind. His love is of long duration; he envies not. He is not puffed up. Arrogance, boastfulness, and conceit are not his ways; he is humble. A loving person does not behave himself unseemly; he thinks no evil; he bears all things; he endures all things; and he is not easily provoked to anger. A loving person does not hold a grudge against others; he realizes that to do so is to bring more harm to himself than to them.
  • It involves caring, respecting, responding, empathizing, having concern, giving, receiving, sharing, forgiving. Notice that these words we are using are verbs, and verbs denote action. Loving requires action.
  • A person who says to another, “You have killed all the love I ever had for you,” does not understand the art of loving, because nothing can kill love; if it dies, it commits suicide, because love is not a measure of the one being loved, but of the one doing the loving.
  • it is not just a feeling—it is a way of treating a person.
  • If a person is mature in his ways of loving, then for him love is not blind. Mature love sees more, not less; but because it sees more, it is willing to see less.
  • Maybe you are wondering if you are really in love with your partner, if the two of you have a genuine love that will stand the test of time. If there is admiration between you, if you agree on most things, if you cooperate instead of compete, you are probably in love. If you feel comfortable together and can relax and be natural, you are probably in love.
  • Love does not consist of gazing into one another’s eyes, but of looking outward in the same direction.

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