Psyche & cupid at The Met
I decided to write about the difference between love and lust, and how you can very easily tell it...for various reasons , but foremost because I feel our society is so caught up in the lust of the flesh...that they confuse it with TRUE love . I have grown up with all of the lusty movies and television shows and I see how they polluted my mind and how they are polluting our children's minds and hearts. We are inundated daily with images , in the media, movies, paper ads...that depict ' love' between two people. Usually this love involves deeply looking into each other's eyes, long deep kisses, then ripping each other's clothes off. We have been programmed to believe now THAT is really love. I can tell you right now, THAT is really LUST. That is actually one of the first clues I was going to mention to tell the difference, if ripping each other's clothes off is the FIRST thought when you relate to each other . Not to say that married couple's that love each other should not think that, ( I believe they should think it about even MORE than they probably do ), but if your FIRST thought is always sexual--BIG clue it is lust.
Obvious true love, a boy and his dog.
Second clue...lust involves always WANTING something from that person, love involves GIVING , more than getting. If you find yourself wanting to GIVE to a person more, rather than asking yourself what can I GET from that person, ( usually in exchange for something ), then love is in the picture. Lust wants to GET, love wants to GIVE.
Third clue..and last clue...if you are usually considering what is in the best interests of the OTHER person , more than YOUR best interests...in whatever way... your needs, your time, your money, your future, their future...then it is LOVE. Most especially when you may be angry with the person, hurt , or disappointed in them. It is easy to love someone when they are being ' perfect' , in whatever way ' perfect' is to you. It is when you still deeply care about them when they are NOT so perfect, that love is demonstrated. Lust will not last with the hard times of life , it will disappear.
I forgot there is one last test , and it is the one you see in retrospect.
TIME. Time will always be the test of love or lust as well, early love...the giddy ' young love' ,( my very favorite ), then the middle years of love...when you see couples enjoying their time together and holding hands when they are in their 40-60's, then the most profound love of all...demonstrated with the elderly ...the man tenderly holding his wife's hand when they walk, or gently putting his arm around her, and when his eyes still sparkle when he sees her, or her's when she sees him . She is not as beautiful or vibrant as she was , and he is not as strong or handsome as he was , but the love they share is the deepest beside the love of God. The surface has faded off of them both, and what is left is the core.
God's love trumps over all the ' lust-love', the giddy-love, the middle-year's love, and the profound love of the elderly. That is a fact that will fill your soul.
Be careful out there in this world of lust landmines and pitfalls.
If after reading this you have figured out you really DO love someone, please let them know, because life is truly very short.
I hope your day is filled with love,
Gina
" Love is patient and kind. Love is not boastful , or proud. It is not arrogant or rude, It is not selfish or easily provoked, It thinks no evil ; Rejoices not in iniquity but rejoices in the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things , hopes all things, endures all things . Love never fails. and now faith , hope , and love abide, these three: but the greatest of these is LOVE. " 1 Corinthians 13 4-8, 13
