I've always been someone who believed strongly in love, I think it's the closest thing we have to magic on this planet. Love is such an amazing gift we are given, but I think more often than not, people forget what love really is and what it really means. There is no such thing as Prince Charming or love at first sight. Love does not come in a pretty box, nor does love have price stickers attached to it. Love is not what we see in "The Notebook" (don't let Ryan Gosling's beauty fool you). Love is not Valentine's Day or sappy posts on social media. Love is so much more than any song, book, or movie could portray.

I see so many posts of pictures of expensive things or lists of crazy demands with the caption "#relationshipgoals," but we will never find love in a Tiffany's box or in a Victoria's Secret bag. You cannot buy love - it will never be found on a shelf. Love is sacrifice. It's putting someone else's needs before your own. Love is not the thing itself, but it is the sacrifice that one person makes in order to get something for the person they love. True love is just as happy with a handmade gift as it is with one that costs tons of money.

Relationships almost seem like an accessory or a social media trend these days, but as scripture says, love is not boastful. Your significant other is not a way to get likes or a way to show everyone just how cool you are. Of course you should want to show the world the person you love, but you are not in a relationship with someone to make others jealous. Every aspect of your relationship does not need to be known to everyone. Just because people scream their love from the rooftops, doesn't mean their love is any more special.

Love at first sight is so ridiculous. Love takes time, it's cultivated, it grows everyday. True love weathers the storm, it goes against the odds. Love makes it through the rough patches and the boring days. You cannot love someone after just meeting them. Love changes along with the two people in the relationship. That's why people grow apart, not because they never loved each other, but because their love grew as much as it could.

Movies make love seem perfect in the end, but it is not. Love is accepting of flaws. Love is staying up until the early hours of the morning fighting because you promised you would never go to bed angry. Love is up and down and ever changing. There are no fairytale endings, no perfect tales to tell. True love gets down and dirty and it drives you crazy some days. Love is willing and it's a fighter and it never backs down.

Love is complicated and it is hard work, but above all, love will always be worth it.