Love Much

I think that this can be taken many different ways, and I believe that the simple idea of "love" is a complicated matter.  Love is such a deep emotion.  It takes time to develop, patience to continue, and a commitment to yourself and to others.  And it is so much more than just a connection between two people.  It is a daily connection between lots of people, if you wish, animals, ideas, and etc.  It has become such a fixture in our everyday life that without "love" we would not be.  And I think by saying "love much", we are reminded to share that little part of ourselves with as many people as possible.  There is a lot of hate in this world, and our days gets shorter every day, but there is love, and there is the ability to love.  We must allow ourselves to be surrounded with love.  I really don't know how else to put it...  but to quote a favorite movie of mine, "love actually is all around".

(It's even in the waterfalls... taken on our Honeymoon - outside of Asheville, NC)

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If I were to contemplate the idea of "loving much" when I was younger, you would probably find me blushing in a corner somewhere.  At least in one manner of the terms, "love much" meant something very personal and very private - an act between person's that loved each other very much, and were committed.  They were married, went to church on a weekly basis, and were in love.  They were allowed to "love much" because of the relationship they had made together, and the commitment they had made to each other, and to God.  This is how I was raised.  I was raised in a loving family, who went to church at least twice a week, and for me, being a Christian meant a whole lot when it came to "love" guidelines.  For one, when I started dating, I was hesitant about dating anyone other than a Christian.  I was very caught up in the sacrament of inner-faith dating, and was unwilling to compromise.  When it came to dating online, it was easy to screen out those who didn't openly profess to being a Christian.  That was one of my top contenders... along with smoking habits, height, and age.  Looking back on it now, however, you can tell I was jaded.  And once I got into college and started taking some of the great classes that I did take, my whole outlook on love changed.

First of all, I took a Sexuality and Society class that was probably one of the most eye-opening classes in all of my college career.  The teacher was amazing!  And she really taught us that love is something so much more important that "making it".  In America, it seems, [we] tend to have the belief that doing certain deeds before marriage, or any sort of committed relationship, is very taboo.  It is looked down upon, and is often labeled with derogatory terms in order to somewhat deter the practice.  In school, abstinence is taught - and a "no sex" policy is preached.  Love will come to you one day, and you will be happy, and you will get married, and then you will be able to officially enjoy the act of making love.  However, in the Netherlands (I think I'm remembering the country right), they seem to hold the opposite beliefs.  In a "sex ed" video that we watched, it talked about trying out those intimate deeds to the point that you are comfortable enough to be able to fall in love with a person. 

To a college student, it was liberating.  And extremely interesting.  The idea that "sex" was actually being taught, instead of abstinence was incredible.  And for me, that was probably the reason I liked that class so much.  It was so different from everything that I had grown up with, and I found myself agreeing with what she was teaching. 

Like I said, that was one of my favorite classes from my college years.  I loved the fact that everything I had grown up knowing was being challenged.  And it didn't make sense to me not to go along with it - it all made sense in my head, and I think it's completely applicable to today's society.  The idea of "loving much" used to make me blush, but now, what can I say, it makes me happy!