love.

A friend posted this on her blog last week, and it's continued to remind me of the true definition of love -- what it is and what it isn't. Thought I'd share it with all of you as well.

May you read it with fresh eyes, and may it knock you off your feet, just as it did to me last week (and every time I've read it since).

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut,
Doesn't have a swelled head,
Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first,"
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn't revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back, But keeps going to the end.

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 is patient.
Love is kind and is not jealous.
Love does not brag and is not arrogant.
Love does not act unbecomingly.
It does not seek its own.
It is not provoked.
It does not take into account a wrong suffered.
It does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.