Sometimes we substitute the words we really want to say with something else. We say darn it or shoot. Trying to convince ourselves that people don't know what we are really thinking. Why? We all know what's really going on.
But this doesn't always just happen with negative words. Sometimes it happens with good words too. Maybe we are afraid to tell some one that we think they look fantastic, so we use nice instead. We are afraid to come off too strong, so we tone it down a little.
We tell people we like them, instead of stepping it up and telling them we love them. We say we really care about them or that they are important to us, but we hold off with that little four letter word 'l-o-v-e'. Love. Why? We all know what's really going on.
We try to make sure we don't make ourselves look stupid, what if we said something to someone and they didn't return it. What if we said those three magical words, and the only response we got was a blank stare. So we wait. We wait until we think we are absolutely positive they'll respond the way we want them to. But is that really what love is? Love... always trusts, always hopes and always perseveres. (1. Corinthians 13,7)
So if we really love someone, we need to tell them. And we need to tell them often. Not just whenever it seems plausible that they feel the same way. Because that's exactly it, love isn't a feeling. It's a state. A choice. An action, a conscious decision to be there for someone, even when the feelings lack. We love our families, because we do. Not because we feel love for them, but because we have a bond, that goes beyond how we feel. At least that's my definition.
This is what the dictionary says.
