The Most Powerful Four Letter Word

What is the hardest thing that you have ever had to do? Was it completing the last mile of a marathon? Was it beating cancer? Was it graduating from High School, college or graduate school? Was it restoring a classic car, or building a new addition onto your home?

Or was it saying goodbye to a friend that moved away as a child? Was it burying a child, spouse or parent? Was it losing your job and filing for unemployment? Was it breaking off an engagement, or even more....a marriage?

First of all, Kelly and I are fantastic. She is my headlights and I love her more and more everyday for that elegant quality. The two lists of hardships above are separated by one attribute, love. The hardest physical pain I have ever had to endure was after getting hit by that car on my mission. My job everyday is physically draining, but none of these circumstances even compare to the struggles that occur when love is involved.

When Kelly was giving birth to Weston and after being sent home from the hospital once again, she gave into exhaustion and broke down. She lost her strength temporarily. I simultaneously lost my temper and subsequently belittled an unsuspecting nurse. This is without question one of the most difficult situations I have ever had to endure. My deep love for Kelly and Weston made it so much harder. It still stings, even today to see someone and something that was so far out of my control.

This is what makes love so hard. You cant set deadlines or time-lines for love. Some day's you make progress, others you take steps or even leaps backward. It is nearly impossible to quantify success in love. The world will tell you that it is sex, children, or the number of years you are married. These are all guesses and often time the people that are "in love" don't really know the true status of there love.

As scary as love is, nothing is more satisfying or a higher risk. You open yourself almost completely to another person and you trust them. These people we trust with our hearts have the ability to either build us up or destroy us. Regardless of the destruction, life goes on. It will take time, often life-times, to pick up the pieces and move on but we get up and build up. We get stronger, kinder, more patient and understanding of our own and other peoples emotions. These people that face the destruction of love more completely understand this powerful four letter word, love.

The last question is "Is it worth it"? Yes! It defies all areas of logical thought, but we will continue to love. We will love regardless of the wounds that might never heal. We do it to defy the odds that life is devoid of humanity and compassion. We hope for the love that will create that relationship, the one relationship that makes us a more complete version of ourselves. We love because we have hope for unaltered glee and bliss in the arms of a spouse, parent, child or friend. The minute we give up on love, we give up on those that love us. We cannot afford to pay this price.

Always remember that if love wasn't hard, it would be nothing more than another four letter word.