Only in the imagination does love promise happiness forever. Through experience, we discover the myriad dimensions of love. Sometimes love is joy. Sometimes passion. Sometimes moments of serenity amongst the laughter and sadness. Generally, love is soft. But it also may sting. Love is forever changing, perhaps a smile will slow our pace one minute, but a sign of danger may push us to act, to respond, to make a decision the next.
All that love is, there's much it is not. Love is not shaming. Nor is it punishing. Love does not gloat, criticize, degrade, or diminish. At times we think we're filled with love and yet we selfishly serve our needs before another's. And when we truly express our love to another, there's no mistaking the warm glow that fills the body.
How simple to be a giver of love and yet how forgetful we are when the opportunities arise.