The True Meaning of Love

There is a very famous passage in the Bible that usually comes up when people are getting married or are trying to determine if they made the right choice of partner. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 and part of verse 8. It goes like this in NIV (New International Version): Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

The first time I laid eyes on my son I thought ‘thank God it paid off!’ because the pain had been really excruciating. The nurses got scared at some point because I couldn’t sit or stand through any of the contractions so I was kneeling on the hospital bed which was rather high, come to think of it!

Once that phase passed and they had stitched me up and cleaned my boy is when I got to take a real look at my son. He looked like me! Honestly, he did. I compared our baby photos to confirm it, hihi! I was so excited at that fact and that’s probably because I’d chosen to be a single mum from the get-go. It would’ve been odd if I was raising a child alone and he looked nothing like me. I already had enough questions to answer you know!

I got to know him and the first night I woke up bleary-eyed. Did I even sleep? With time I learnt that babies have no perception of time. Or rather, their perception is reversed. My mum confirmed that to me when she said the same thing happened with all her children (no, I wasn’t that bad! Or I was and it was payback time) so I stopped fretting about it.

As the years went by (I can’t believe I can actually say that about my son right now!) I realized that I loved him more. I protected him fiercely and anyone who crossed his path was looking for trouble. Thankfully, my mum understood what I was feeling so she has stuck to the role of grandma throughout even when I had to leave my son with her for a while. I once gave my dad (and his dad in a different occurrence) a piece of my mind when he called my son names (or rather, didn't call him his actual name). You should have seen the look on my face and heard the tone in my voice! They both knew to back down.

Right now it’s very evident that we both love each other. Don’t get it wrong though. I didn’t know how to love like this. This little boy taught me how to love by loving me. I think children are born with that one instinct, to give love unconditionally and they never really stop unless something happens along the way to change that. Children know the real meaning of true love.  

Over the next few weeks I plan to break down that Bible passage to show you in detail how true this love is.