It's the greatest feeling ever: loving someone and being loved in return. While this may be evident in all sorts of relationships, I will focus on a man and a woman in love. This experience is so wonderful and thrilling that anyone who has not experienced it has not lived. I've experienced it and I’m so thrilled to relive it here. We have an amazing feeling when we buy something new, like a new car or a new house. We also feel great when we attain a new epoch in life: graduating from school, getting a new and befitting job, having our own accommodation, etc. Many also feel elated when they are successful in their various endeavours. Some feel exuberant, albeit transiently, when they are under the influence of drugs, alcohol, tobacco etc. Nevertheless, there is no feeling that can be remotely compared to that of a man and a woman in love. It is a feeling that has confounded man for ages.
"There are ... things that are too amazing for me,
... that I do not understand:
the way of a man with a young woman." - Proverbs 30: 18-19 NIV
The Feeling! It feels like the whole world has stopped in its tracks and that everything on earth pales into insignificance. Nothing else matters. You feel free, liberated like the birds of the heavens, growing wings and flying the world over. The feeling can't be described; it is simply ineffable. You experience sensations that are more profound than those of the five basic senses. The emotions are grand. You feel joy, happiness, peace, tenderness, graciousness, comfort, you name it. In short, you certainly have this feeling that is so unique and distinct. Nothing you have read or heard can prepare you for the overwhelming yet pleasurable rush of the amazing thrills of a man in love. Words can't express the feeling of been in love. Yet expressing these emotions in words has been the cornerstone of epic writings. Love utterances abound in the Bible, the works of William Shakespeare, and in so many other books, articles, songs, poems and sayings penned down by man.
"Place me like a seal over your heart,
like a seal on your arm;
for love is as strong as death,
its jealousy unyielding as the grave.
It burns like blazing fire,
like a mighty flame.
Many waters cannot quench love;
rivers cannot sweep it away." - Song of Songs 8: 6 - 7 NIV
"Love is a spirit all compact of fire."
(Venus and Adonis, 151)*
You Glow! One in love can't keep it hidden. His/her expressions betray what is felt on the inside. You will know a man/woman in love. He/she is all smiles even without provocation. The laughs are loud, prolonged and exaggerated. He becomes unusually conversational, picks interest in things that were once boring to him. He's very apologetic about any mistakes he makes at work or in his dealings with others. She is very chatty: on the phone and with others. She stays on the phone for hours: night and day. She talks about everything; from small silly childish things to issues of great value. She lays awake late into the night thinking about him, talking to him and about him. Even a shy and reserved person can not hide the glory of been in love.
"Doubt thou the stars are fire;
Doubt that the sun doth move;
Doubt truth to be a liar;
But never doubt I love."
(Hamlet, 1.2.123-6)*
It Grows! It matters not whether it's love at first sight or love with hindsight; love grows. Make no mistake, true and enduring love is like a tender plant that needs to be cultivated, nourished and made to blossom and flourish. It's a rule of the more you give, the more you receive. Love, whether it began as a thunderbolt or an undercurrent, will wither away if it's not nurtured. There is nothing like once in love, always in love. It's like a beauty: nothing beautiful will remain that way without proper maintenance. Remembering what brought the first spark of love can keep the embers of love burning. It is a thing of amazing radiance to watch love mature from larva to pupa and then to a full-blown adult entity with wings that can fly.
"My bounty is as boundless as the sea,
My love as deep; the more I give to thee,
The more I have, for both are infinite."
(Romeo and Juliet, 2.2.139-41)*
"This bud of love, by summer's ripening breath,
May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet."
(Romeo and Juliet, 2.2.121-2)*
Madly in Love! Love can drive one crazy, literally and otherwise. It can make one do stupid things. Nonetheless, that's part of the magic of love; it's like been under a spell. Don't spare yourself the embarrassment of being intoxicated with the liquor of love; it's worth every ounce.
"If thou remember'st not the slightest folly
That ever love did make thee run into,
Thou hast not loved."
(As You Like It, 2.4.33-5)*
A Sense of Purpose! How often we see some who've lost focus in life with no sense of purpose or direction, gain a resurgence of hope when they fall in love. When I was in school, I saw persons who were about giving up on the pursuits of their dream career, re-energized by the love and support shown by their loved ones. While some got carried away by 'love' at the detriment of their life's goal, a good number of individual benefited from the love of a very dear friend. I know guys whose relationship started in school, the moment they graduate, they are driven by the singular purpose of getting a good job, getting married to their soulmate and settling down to raise a family. That is not the case with others who graduate unattached. This group often find themselves getting a job before settling for a relationship all the while wondering whether the other person likes them for who they are or for the money they earn. My little experience has revealed that guys who start dating in school marry much earlier than those who wait after school. I also know that this is not always the case, but more often than not this is what happens. I know working-class guys who waste a lot of money craving for a semblance of love, money that could have been channelled into raising a family. So, isn't it obvious that a man/woman in love is purposeful, focused and driven towards more noble and honourable goals than one who is not? Don't get me wrong: there are those who make commitments to remaining single so as to pursue praiseworthy goals of much higher education, travelling abroad, being a minister of God or simply as a personal preference. Individuals who make genuine and conscientious efforts to keep romantic love at bay to pursue lofty goals in life deserve our utmost respect. My people say in local parlance, ‘e nor easy.’ For those with this God-given gift of singleness as espoused in the Bible, the love they have for God is of far-excelling value and God rewards them. Remember, there has to be love. Charles Dickens once quoted as saying, '“'Tis love that makes the world go round, my baby”#. To achieve lofty goals in life, to be filled with purpose and to have a life full of meaning, seek love today. The love of God exceeds all others. In his love God gave us the capacity to fall in love with a member of the opposite sex. If you've attained genuine romantic love, may the love you have for God move you to cultivate, nurture and hone this love into a union blessed by God: marriage.
"Have I caught thee, my heavenly jewel? Why, now let
me die, for I have lived long enough."
(The Merry Wives of Windsor
"A heart well worth winning, and well won.
A heart that, once won, goes through fire and water for
the winner, and never changes, and is never daunted.”
(Charles Dickens)#
Living Responsibly! Love makes you responsible. If you are truly and sincerely in love with someone, you will do everything not to hurt that person. There are people whose entire course of life turned for the better the moment they fell in love. I've known persons who stopped an amoral lifestyle so they can be deserving of the one they love. It's not that simple. Nevertheless, there are things that make people change their way of life: love of God, disasters, personal tragedies, embarrassment, guilt, etc. One of such force of change is romantic love between a man and a woman. Granted, change can be either for good or bad. All said, a man or woman who falls in love with a responsible person more often than not, strive to be more responsible themselves.
"Such is my love, to thee I so belong,
That for thy right myself will bear all wrong."
(Sonnet 88)*
Realizing your Potentials! It's inspirational. You get inspired to do things that you once thought were unattainable. Love and the message of love have inspired ordinary men and women to be great poets, playwrights, authors, musicians, actors and noble professionals in varying fields of human endeavour.
"But love, first learned in a lady's eyes,
Lives not alone immured in the brain;
But, with the motion of all elements,
Courses as swift as thought in every power,
And gives to every power a double power,
Above their functions and their offices."
(Love's Labours Lost, 4.3.327-55)*
“And Jacob proceeded to serve seven years for Rachel,
but in his eyes they proved to be like some few days
because of his love for her”-Gen. 29:20 (New World Translation)
“A loving heart is the truest wisdom.”
(Charles Dickens)#
It's Real! Some say true love does not exist. That's a blatant lie. Have you seen a man in love that became heartbroken? The symptomatology of heartbreak shows how real and powerful love is: sleeplessness, poor appetite, weight loss, apathy, listlessness, malaise, even depression or frank psychosis in some cases. The question is, if love is not real why does heartbreak hurt so much? Why do some go as far as committing suicide or hurting others when they are heartbroken? Some don't appreciate what they have until they lose it. Every human being has the capacity to love. Even a brutish, tyrannical dictator can fall in love. Adolf Hitler was in love even till death. It was the story of Romeo and Juliet at the end of World War 11:
"Eva Braun met Adolf Hitler the first time when she was working
as the assistant of Hitler's personal photographer Hoffmann. A
few weeks after this meeting she agreed to follow (Hitler) to his
mountain retreat in the alps. Their attraction was immediate,
and over the objection of her parents, she became his mistress.
For the next sixteen years, she lived in luxury as millions
suffered and died at the hands of her 'Wulf'. After he survived
the July 1944 plot she wrote him an emotional letter, ending:
'From our first meeting I swore to follow you anywhere - even
unto death - I live only for your love.' Eva Braun, the young
woman who had spent most of her life waiting for Hitler, would
now be with him forever. Eva Braun had agreed to share
Adolf Hitler's fate. A local magistrate married them early on the
morning of April 29, 1945. The next day at a little after 3:30 p.m.,
they bit into thin glass vials of cyanide. As he did so, Hitler also shot
himself in the head with a 7.65 mm Walther pistol."
A Cure! You feel whole, brand 'tear-rubber' new. Love heals; its portions provide wholistic cure. If two men are sick of the same illness and receive the exact same treatment, the one in love will get better quicker. The reverse is the case with the one that has a heartbreak.
“She's got a smile that heals me
I don't know why it is
But I have to laugh when she
reveals me.”
- Billy Joel (American Pianist,
Singer and Song Writer)#
Love and Music! Shakespeare once famously wrote in the Twelfth Night, ‘If music be the food of love, play on.’ Music has been a medium through which love is expressed throughout the ages. They are intrinsically intertwined. Love has inspired music and music has moved many to fall in love. True to Shakespeare, music has fuelled and fanned the flame of love.
“Where do broken hearts go
Can they find their way home
Back to the open arms
Of a love that's waiting there
And if somebody loves you
Won't they always love you
I look in your eyes
And I know that you still care, for me”
- Whitney Houston, ‘Where Do Broken Hearts Go’ (1)
"You see through,
Right to the heart of me.
You break down my walls
With the strength of your love.
I never knew
Love like I've known it with you."
- Whitney Houston, ‘I Have Nothing’ (1)
“I was blessed because I was loved by you
You were my strength when I was weak
You were my voice when I couldn't speak
You were my eyes when I couldn't see
You saw the best there was in me
Lifted me up when I couldn't reach
You gave me faith 'coz you believed
I'm everything I am
Because you loved me”
- Celine Dion, ‘ Because You Loved Me’ (1)
A Gift from God! I feel bad when people consider that God created us and simply left us on earth to suffer. While the issue of why evil exist is beyond the scope of this discourse, there are verifiable evidence that bear credence to the fact that we were created by an amazing and loving Father who gave us so much for us to enjoy life on earth, in spite of the ills that prevail now on our planet. God did not create us like mechanical robots that lack feeling, nor did he make us like zombies whose entire life course is programmed to follow a regimented pattern. No, rather he created us with the capacity to love, to feel, to care and to fall in love. Stop to think of it, how this life will look like without the capacity to love! In the beginning God created love:
" And Jehovah God proceeded to
build the rib that
he had taken from the MAN into
a WOMAN and to
bring her to the MAN.
Then the MAN said:
'This is at last bone of my bones
And flesh of my flesh.
This one will be called WOMAN,
Because from MAN
this one was taken.'
That is why a man will leave his
father and his mother and
he must stick to his wife and
they must become one FLESH"
- Genesis 2: 23, 24 (New World Translation)
May you find love and stay in love because it's a gift from God. Let me leave you with one of the best love songs ever written:
The Colour Of My Love lyrics
(Songwriters: Foster, David; Janov, Arthur)
I'll paint my mood in shades of blue
Paint my soul to be with you
I'll sketch your lips in shaded tones
Draw your mouth to my own
I'll draw your arms around my waist
Then all doubt I shall erase
I'll paint the rain that softly lands on your wind-blown hair
I'll trace a hand to wipe out your tears
A look to calm your fears
A silhouette of dark and light
While we hold each other oh so tight
I'll paint a sun to warm your heart
Swearing that we'll never part
That's the colour of my love
I'll paint the truth
Show how I feel
Try to make you completely real
I'll use a brush so light and fine
To draw you close and make you mine
I'll paint the truth
Show how I feel
Try to make you completely real
I'll use a brush so light and fine
To draw you close and make you mine
I'll paint a sun to warm your heart
Swearing that we'll never part
That's the colour of my love
I'll draw the years all passing by
So much to learn so much to try
And with this ring our lives will start
Swearing that we'll never part
I offer what you cannot buy
Devoted love until we die
* excerpts from www.shakespeare-online.com
# excerpts from www.thinkexist.com
1. excerpts from www.lyrics007.com
Please note: the online links above were gotten from www.google.com
Thanks for reading it. I love you. Dr. Eugene A. O
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