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Well, today I got into a little debate with my friend. He routinely wishes he had someone to be his significant other, and longs to be loved and shown physical affection. I, on the other hand, find it hard to understand how these feelings can be had without a specific person in mind. This led to a debate in which I went through what seem to me to be almost philosophical analyses of my own thoughts.


I am not against physical contact. I can understand why two people together would desire to express their affection in such a way. What I can't understand is why someone would have just the desire alone.

I have those desires too, but they're secondary in my mind...until the point when I meet someone, and to them I wish to give my love and do everything in my power to make them happy and feel good. The other desires then are still secondary, but they can rise into consciousness.

First and foremost is Love. And once Love rises up, then tagging along behind it are Lust and physical desire. But only once they're illumined with Love will I consider them worthy of my attention.

About the usage of that word: Lust. Lust is desire of any kind, particularly of a physical nature, and it is most commonly used about sex. Yet I can lust for knowledge, for example. It is a stigmatized word, taken only to mean evil, despite it's actual meaning.

To some extent, the want of physical affection is a mild level of lust. Love and lust eventually go hand in hand. But Love comes first, or else it is not right.

Even more importantly, Love has the power to stand on its own--it can exist without Lust. Lust cannot continue to stand if Love is not there to support it.

What do people always wonder about when they're attracted to someone? "Is it lust, is it infatuation, or is it love?" The first, lust, being, "Am I interested in this person do to their looks?" That is bad in that it is not love; in itself it is not evil. Love will bring lust with it: a physical attraction to the other person, a desire to touch them and be touched, a desire to give and recieve physical pleasure. But it is worthless, meaningless, without love.

I digress in my justification of the term I used.

What worth is there to lust if there is no love? Wanting physical contact for pleasure's own sake...there is nothing good or justifiable there. How can it be understood?

And what is the desire for love, if there is no person to love? Wanting love only because you want to BE loved...that renders it worthless.

"You mean you want it or desire it," the Devil told Peter with a dismissive sneer. "People don't love things anymore."
"I do," Peter said quietly, but the Devil took him for a liar, and therein lay his downfall.

Would that we all could be like Peter, truly meaning love when we said it. The Devil believed he only wanted the harp, a material object, or the fame that could come...but Peter wanted to bring happiness to others through his music, and that was the love of which he spoke.

Today, many people say love, but they do not understand what it is. They think that love just means that they like someone a lot, or that it has something to do with touching and holding. They do not understand the sacrifice involved in the true meaning of love.

To love means to serve. Few people want to serve in any fashion, these days. And yet...that is what it truly is.

Love. I love you. I place your needs above my own. I want to help you. I will bring goodness to you in any way I can. Come to me. I will help.

Whether it is love of God, love of family, love of friends, or that romantic love that so baffles people... This is what love means.