But the greatest of these is love...

I believe the emotion with the most power is love. Love is what drives us. It affects most, if not all, our decisions. From simple things as what to put on in the morning, to more complicated ones like who we are going to marry. I always think of love as a positive thing, and it usually is, how ever love can make us do crazy things.

There's a song that goes “What the world needs now is love, sweet love. It's the only thing that there's just too little of”. There is too little sweet love but there is enough love in the world, the problem is what is being loved.

I think all wars have been and will be driven by love. Let me explain myself by using the movie Troy as an example. We can clearly see Paris's love for Helen, it was so strong that he started a war for her. Agamemnon love for glory and power was just as strong or stronger than Paris's love for Helen. Achilles love for fame and glory drove him to the beaches of a foreign country to fight for a king he hated. Hectors love for his brother was what kept him from turning the boat around and returning Helen when he found her in the boat knowing that this would result in a war.

War is driven by love...of money, of power, of revenge, of possessions, of territory, fame...glory. I don't think the world is lacking love, I think the world is loving the wrong things. What the world needs now IS love, love of justice, of mercy, forgiveness, compassion...love for the other.

You see love, pure true love, is selfless... It doesn't want or need anything. It doesn't want money, revenge or fame, it just wants to give. A book I love is The Giving Tree, is a great example of love. There once was a tree and she had a boy, and she loved that boy. All she wanted was to make that boy happy. She played with him, fed and cared for him, never expecting anything back. She gave until she couldn't give any more even thought the boy could care less. The boy leaves and only comes back to ask her for things. The tree loved him so much, despite his absence for years that she gives him what she can; first her apples, then her branches and last her trunk. At the end of the book the boy comes back as an old man and the tree, now a stump, is sad, not because he took her apples, her branches, and trunk but because she had nothing left to give, in her eyes she was useless. However the boy just wants a place to sit and she proudly straightens up as asked the boy to sit one her, happy she can once again take care of the needs of her beloved boy...she never ask for anything in return. All she wanted to do is care for the boy. That's love.

I must admit I'm not very fund of the boy in this book. The boy, like the tree, is full of love...just not for the tree. He loved money, possessions, and leisure and fully knowing that the tree loved him he took advantage of her love. I think the reason I dislike the boy so much is because at times I see myself in him, loving things that benefit me not caring who I hurt or who I take advantage of to get it.

We forget what love is...

1 Corinthians 13

⁴Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
⁵ It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
⁶Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
⁷It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

¹³And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.