When I finally opened my heart, I started learning the lessons I’m meant to be learning.

“Love should be affirmative”, he said, “it should be about acceptance, accepting another person’s flaws but loving him for who he is”.

I listened in wonder and amazement knowing that it was a reminder. It was part of the lesson, to help me get to the answer I sought.

It was a short and simple message yet it made so much sense.

Most times we are often too quick to judge, to want to try to change a person to be who we want them to be, to focus on the negatives which in turn make ourselves miserable.

Seldom do we show appreciation for the positives we see in our partners. We take their efforts for granted. We rant and rave when they can’t seem to fit into the mold we built for them. We kick a fuss when their actions are not how we idealized them to be.

Is this how love is meant to be?

To claim to love yet to make them miserable for their flaws and if we do not succeed, feel miserable ourselves?

Then why be with this person to begin with? We should save ourselves from the trouble and misery…

So I have. I have walked away from misery, from someone who used to always try to make me laugh, but whose flaws I can never accept nor change.

Then I finally found that someone I was willing to love, flaws and all. Yet I had to let him go at the end of the day.

Isn’t life strange?

Now, I can only hope and continue to have faith…

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

Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy.
Love is never boastful, nor conceited, nor rude;
It is not self-seeking, nor easily angered.
It keeps no record of wrongdoing.
It does not delight in evil,
But rejoices in the truth.
It always protects, trusts, hopes, and perseveres.
There is nothing love cannot face;
There is no limit to its faith, hope, and endurance.
In a word, there are three things that last forever:
Faith, hope, and love;
But the greatest of them all is love.
– 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.
– Corinthians 13:7-8

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
– Matthew 6:21

I found the one whom my soul loves.
– Song of Solomon 3:4

Let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
– 1 John 3:18

Love is more important than anything else. It is what ties everything completely together.
– Colossians 3:14

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things.
– Galatians 5:22-23

Let love be your greatest aim.
– 1 Corinthians 14:1

Everything you do must be done with love.
– 1 Corinthians 16:14

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth— for your love is more delightful than wine.
– Song Of Solomon 1:2

Even if I give away everything that I have and sacrifice myself, but have no love, I gain nothing.
– 1 Corinthians 13:3

Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed.
If one person falls, the other can reach out and help.
But someone who falls alone is in real trouble.
Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm…
– Ecclesiastes 4:9-11

Hate starts quarrels, but love covers every wrong.
– Proverbs 10:12

The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
– Galatians 5:6

Love and faithfulness keep a king safe; through love his throne is made secure.
– Proverbs 16:9

Love has no desire but to fulfill itself. To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night. To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving.
– Kahlil Gibran

We waste time looking for the perfect lover, instead of creating the perfect love.
– Tom Robbins

“We have to keep trying and hoping. That’s what’s most important, the trying and hoping. Maybe that’s most important of all.”
- Tasslehoff Burrfoot, Dragonlance – Dragons of Autumn Twilight