What love is

Prompted by an incident in Antwerp, which I described in my book *The Hut and I*, I have been pondering the question of what love is for several months now. Yesterday I read the famous „Song of Love“ in *The Message*, an English translation. Luther translates one passage as: „Love does not envy!“ In *The Message*, it reads: „Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.“ Love does not strive for what it does not have.
Ouch. I’m usually quite content with material things. But when it comes to dealing with people, I’m all too familiar with that „eagerness“, that fierce inner struggle. The expectation that the other person ought to give me time, attention, understanding or whatever it may be right now.
Phew. If love means that I genuinely and wholeheartedly allow the other person the freedom to give me whatever they want to give me at that moment, then I’ve still got a lot to learn. Phew. That’s a challenge.