I feel like I have never really experienced true love in my life. The older I get, the more I start to wonder, is love even a real thing? Does love even exist further than four letters in a dictionary?

Love can be considered as a noun or a verb. The noun of love says that love is an affectionate concern for the well being of others. This is where I get confused. If someone "loves" you, whether it be friends, family or boyfriend/girlfriend, how could they hurt you? With "love," there is and always will be a heartbreak and disappointment to follow. But, if your own family, the people that took part in your creation could not even love you, how can a stranger ever come to love you?

I find myself giving love all the time. I love children, they are the only thing that gives me a little hope that love might be real. Like the way I love my nephew and cousins. But I do not understand why I don't feel love in a receiving way. So am I giving love? Or is love just a part of my imagination? Or maybe it's that I only feel love with children because their minds have not been screwed up like us adults. They have pure love, which has not been altered by things of the world.

And see, when it comes to dating in this generation and trying to find this thing called love, people seem to only see the definition that describes love as "sexual." Sadly, that is what this generation has come to think love is.

Maybe it's that I don't believe in an "earthly" or "humanly" love because nothing can compare to God's love for me. God says, "Love is patient, love is kind." So how can we have patience with love when we cannot even have patience in the drive thru? "It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs." If love keeps no record of wrongs, then why do we go back to something that the other person did wrong when we are in the midst of an argument? I feel like love is constantly dishonoring others in this generation. Simply liking a picture on Instagram in this generation can easily anger the person you love. And what in this world is not self-seeking? This is the decade of selfishness. "Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always preserves." If love does not partake in evil, why are people constantly cheating and then lying about doing so?

However, with the disappointments from people here on earth, this has helped me realize how great God's love is for me. His love is everything that is said in 1 Corinthians 13. And maybe, love is not as great as it is supposed to be because people are losing touch with God and not putting him first. First we must love God in order to love others.

Love is like a sport to this generation, constantly throwing the term around like a ball and running game on your opponent.