Love is not a feeling, it’s a choice.

On my way to work I’ve been driving past a church sign that says “Love is not a feeling, it’s a choice.”

Now, not being a deeply religious person or well-read when it comes to the Bible, I’m sure this ties back into scripture. But as I’m sure the sign writer hoped, it got me thinking. Not what verse it may be (Full disclosure, I googled it. It’s not word for word from the Bible.)  or what it means in a relationship with God, but what it means in our daily lives.

Love IS a choice. We can choose to show love and compassion or we can choose to judge and reject.

It is so easy to judge those who are different from us or choose to live their lives in other ways. It’s easy to judge ourselves and the choices we’ve made. But we can choose not to.

We can choose to love people despite their differences and their perceived flaws. We can choose to love ourselves despite our perceived flaws.

You can love someone or at the very least show them compassion without understanding them or agreeing with them 100%. None of us are living a 100% perfect life, no one knows all the answers. So why not open our hearts and minds?

You lose nothing by loving, but you lose a whole hell of a lot by hating. Love can break your heart, but hates weighs on your soul. I refuse to believe we lose when we open our hearts.

In this world that seems to spew hate so readily, be the love. You don’t have to change the world to make a difference, change yourself, change the world for the better for even just one other person. But be light, be love.

Choose love.