...a disciple of agape

i have been thinking a lot about love lately. not necessarily the love that you find between a man and female, but love in general. the love that we can find in Christ.
the love that is freely given. the love that seems so hard to grasp.
i've been trying to understand it. trying to find a way to finally reach it and take hold of it. a way to apply it to my human being.

this love of God can be summed up in four loves...
storge- ...something like “natural love” or “family love”
phileo- ...the love of friendship
eros-...romantic love
agape-...given quite irrespective of merit, and it is a love that seeks to give

it is almost natural to have storge love.
quite simple to have phileo love.
a little harder, and more heartbreaks, to reach eros love.
and finally, almost foreign to reach agape love.

agape love, oh agape love. why is it so hard to reach? why do i still feel like I can not grasp it?
i have been seeking, and learning, and reaching out for it. but something inside me tells me that it is still going to take me some time. its not an easily sought kind of love. it takes days, weeks, months, years until we can finally come in contact with it. it takes time until we can finally catch a hint of it in our own being. but even then, it is still foreign to us.
agape is not a love that seeks reward or merit. it does not seek the approval of others.
it loves merely because it knows nothing else.
how i wish i could love like that.
how i wish i could reach agape love in every single one of my relationships.

Christ gave his very flesh in order to save us from our sinful nature. God gave us the ultimate gift. the ultimate love. Christ is the very embodiment of agape love.
In seeking after God, we seek after agape. In learning God, we learn agape. In being His disciple, we are disciples of agape.

the seeds are planted
and the flowers are in bloom.

love is found amidst the strife.
my hope is found in His beauty.

the beauty of a gift.
the beauty of His love.

a simple flower to remind me of His love.