Be Careful. The little guy with the bow and arrow runs rampant this time of year.

Valentines Day is coming. Hey, guys head for the stores now or you’ll be heading for the hills later. Let’s look at that dart which Cupid shoots into the hearts of us all at one time or another. The one which will make you fall in love. Better… let’s look at love. If you have never looked it up in the dictionary, you may be surprised. This thing called love runs all through humanity.

LOVE: A deep, tender, ineffable feeling of affection and solicitude toward a person, such as that arising from kinship, recognition of attractive qualities, or a sense of underlying oneness.


WOW! Already I am overwhelmed. I love my sister and brother and I still feel the love for my mother and father and my older brother who passed away years ago with just a hint of sadness, however with many wonderful memories. They will always live in my heart.

I fell deeply in love with my wife the first time I laid eyes on her. Those feelings are often called infatuation. The infatuation is a temporary feeling. It will soon be 37 years later and I still love my wife. Now it’s a little deeper. Now it is that sense of underlying oneness. She and I have become one and the same.

LOVE: A feeling of intense desire and attraction toward a person with whom one is disposed to make a pair, the emotion of sex and romance.

Those are a glorious part of marriage. Sexual passion by itself, though does not sustain the feeling of love between two people. Once a couple has children they begin to understand just how deep this affection can be. If they share in the responsibility of raising those children they will find it challenging, sometimes scary but extremely rewarding.


LOVE: an intense emotional attachment, as for a pet or treasured object.

What then? I should buy the family cat a valentine? I must admit that I love to sit and watch TV with our cat on my lap but this is not the same kind of love which I feel for my wife and children as well as my grandchildren. It is not the same kind of love that I feel for my brother and sister.

LOVE: A person who is the object of deep or intense affection or attraction; beloved. Often used as a term of endearment. I call my wife ‘my love.’ Why not? My wife is my love, my beloved. She is a part of me.

LOVE: an expression of one’s affection. A strong predilection or enthusiasm. A strong predilection or enthusiasm as well as the object of such enthusiasm.

I love write. You are here you probably do, also. At the very least, you love to read.

LOVE: Christianity Charity.

You’ve heard of agape love? This is a love given simply because it is good to give.

LOVE: A zero score in tennis.


This seems a far cry from Valentines Day.


LOVE: To have a deep, tender, ineffable feeling of affection and solicitude toward a person or persons.

We feel this for our husbands and wives… mother and father… sisters and brothers… our oldest and best friend. But this word love can be a deep thing or a very shallow desire or want.

The list goes on and on. What a powerful word love is. I once saw a church bulletin board with this slogan. “Love is a four letter word.” I think we should use it more.

Finally and of course I could not end this without one last definition:

LOVE: Eros or Cupid.

Happy Valentines Day.