Whoever said, “love is a many splendored thing” summed it best (I think it was Shakespeare, but I could not find it). So much to be said about love that will not be rehearsed here, except to say that when you love someone who will not love you back is . . . I can’t find a word for it.
Those who truly love, that is, reciprocate love, don’t have to meet. Love is there by trust. But there are those who do not trust and so they do not love. Does that mean I must cease to love because someone will not love me in return? That would be selfish, and that would not be love. When love is withdrawn or love becomes duty, everything changes.
True lovers need not see each other every day. They just love, knowing. No work involved. Love is not earned. It is given and received. “It does not seek its own.” Those who withdraw love have forgotten what it is. They say, in effect, “I cannot overlook your faults though I expect you to overlook mine.” Love does not rejoice in what is wrong, but neither does it brood over injury.
If God had waited for the world to love Him, He never would have so loved the world. But He did love the world and the world did not receive Him, He did not withdraw His love. I don’t know about you, but I need to remember that.
