i saw this off facebook.

in the midst of all the fb likes, shares and "aw" comments, i'm frowning.

so if you really are a selfish scumbag who's an absolute asshole, love means that you don't have to change?

love is not a means to an end. love doesn't make one feel wanted or needed. love doesn't exist just so one will always have company. love is not selfish.

"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." - 1 Cor 13:4-7

love is painful. love will hurt. love leaves you empty, knowing that you've given everything and will not get anything in return. love expects nothing in return, not company, not even reciprocated love.

people expect all that. love doesn't.

and simply because of that, love will change people. whether we like it or not.

"So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us." - 1 John 4:16-19

personally, i only know love because i know Him. i love because He loves me, not because i've received love in return from the people around me. so in moments where i feel alone, desolate and forsaken by people, i still love them. even if people don't realise that love comes in different forms. even if people don't agree with how i show my love for them. even if people can't tell that that's how i can best love them. i do still love them in my way.

because love has changed me for who i really am. simply because God is God.