March 31: Why I Believe In Love by Michele Dunaway

What is Love? (Baby don't hurt me no more)

After thirty days of authors answering this question and relating why we, as authors believe in love, including sharing our own personal stories, one thing is for certain, love takes many forms, many shapes, many sizes and is different for all people. So I guess we're no closer to an answer than when Haddaway sang the above lyrics and enjoyed a pop hit.

Love can be brotherly (and be a slogan for cities like Philadelphia), and we can love things, people, animals and ideas. Love can be deep, shallow, easily sustained and easily crushed. The past thirty days have shown that there are various ways we as people demonstrate love, from how we show affection to how we treat others, even people we don't know. We also know love can be dangerous and sometimes deadly. We know some people are so desperate to hold onto love that sometimes they act in terrible ways. When love ends, love has the power to hurt. Love has the power to help heal. All these themes make it into romance novels, which range from romantic suspense to paranormal to home and hearth.

The posts have also shown that there are as many reasons for believing in love as there are reasons to love. We've learned love has qualifiers, such as being labeled true love versus platonic love. There is motherly love and fatherly love.

Since love is different for everyone, but yet is something we believe in, that makes love one of most the complicated and elusive concepts on the planet.

Love motivates us to do things. Love keeps us from doing others. Love is defined yet undefined, and we believe in it strongly. We want it more than any other thing in the world, and as that other song goes, you can't buy love.

We read about it, pray about it, and strive for it. Love is never perfect, yet we want that perfect love because in its essence, love is beautiful and makes us complete.

Most Christian weddings use as one of their scriptures 1 Corinthians 13, specifically lines 4-8 which read (NIV):

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 preservers. Love never fails.

Then line 13 is added:

And now these three things remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

A long time ago, my grandparents (whom I loved very much) offered all their grandchildren a challenge. Memorize 1 Corinthians 13 and Romans 12. They offered a financial reward, so I dug in. Those passages have stayed with me for over 15 years, including Romans 12:9-12 which reads (NIV):

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil, cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.

Those passages, along with John 3:16 NIV, For God so love the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life, are the foundation for my belief in love.

Love is the greatest gift we have. It is found in every culture on the planet. It is found in the innocence of a baby's face. As a romance author, I write about couples finding true love. I write about parents who love their children. I believe in the happy ending because I know deep in my heart that there is one. And even better, when times are dark, I know that I am always loved by the kind of love that never hurts, that of my eternal Father. That fact has sustained me my entire life. As we head into April, may you take a month's worth of love stories with you and may you have a joyous, blessed spring knowing that you are loved.

About Michele Dunaway:

In first grade Michele Dunaway knew she wanted to be a teacher when she grew up, and by second grade she wanted to be an author. By third grade she determined to be both, and before her high school class reunion, she succeeded. In addition to writing romance, Michele is a nationally recognized journalism educator who sponsors the high school yearbook and newspaper.

Born and raised in St. Louis, Michele loves to travel, with the cities and places she’s visited often becoming settings for her stories. Describing herself as a woman who does too much but doesn’t know how to stop, Michele gardens five acres in her spare time and shares her Missouri river town home with two young daughters, five lazy housecats and one crazy kitten. Michele loves to hear from readers and you can reach her through her website at www.micheledunaway.com