Whew…we have
finished your Greek “love” history lesson.
I am pleased to announce that everyone received an “A”. Wait, you think, I was being graded? I pray hearing different understandings of
love helped you both deepen your understanding of the different dimensions of
love and identify people who you love in uniquely beautiful ways. The point is not to classify or
compartmentalize each person you know. I
don’t need to put members of my family in one of the eight categories forever
and ever. Moreover, people can shift or
occupy more than one word for love.
Someone who started in the playful love of ludus might move to philia
love and even to familial love. It might
also be that you had a love for someone in a familial way then after some unfortunate
or hurtful words are exchanged your love for that person needs a new boundary.
In short, love is
not static. Relationships change. Love
is dynamic and ever shifting in new directions.
When has this been
true in your life? Have you had a soul
friend who now the relationship has been defined differently? To state the obvious ~ such shifts hurt. The power of love is that it has the
potential and possibility and promise to help, even heal, as well as hurt and
harm. People we grow close to can leave
wounds and scars in our souls ~ which is an endless truth and never-ending
source of material for Teen Pop, the Blues, and Country music. Yet, there is deep in the human soul, a desire
for affection and affirmation, for all eight ways of love to be encountered and
experienced in life-giving ways.
Today, I invite
you to continue to think about the people you care about and who care for
you. The invitation isn’t just a mental
classification, but a way for us to move about our lives and encounter those we
meet along the pathway of life today.
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