Love vs. Fear

Love...faith...fear...hope. How do they all balance out in life and in relationships? Yeah, I'm not going to try to answer all that in a single blog, because I'm not sure if I truly know the answer. I think a lot of us spend our whole lives trying to figure that out. I think many of them go hand-in-hand such as faith, hope and love. But what about fear? How does that play into it all? I've been thinking a lot about these concepts over the last few weeks. Can you ever have too much love? Too much fear? Too much hope? Or do you need them all to work together as a sort of checks and balances system? I believe we are called to love others as Christ did - unconditionally and whole-heartedly. Obviously we can strive to love them as much as possible, but only God can provide for them the Truest form of love. So does that make our love one 'with conditions'? I don't believe so. I just believe we are called to love all of God's children for who they are because they are exactly that - God's children. Now how are we expected to love whole-heartedly when the trials of life often leave us half-hearted or completely broken-hearted? I know it brings up the question of faith and trust a lot. It is natural for us to fear hurt and to fear broken-heartedness, but where do we draw the line? How does one step out in faith and in love if they did that before and it completely failed or blew up in their face? When are we suppose to draw back and protect ourselves and our hearts? I don't know. I've always been the one to just keep trying, keep pressing, keep loving. Can pure love exist without fear? Or are some fears God's way of warning us away from things that are not of Him? Yeah, as you can see, the more I blog, the more questions I ask and the less answers I find. But honestly, life is about questioning, it's about seeking, and it's about striving everyday for God's Will. So I'll leave you with all those questions to ask yourself as I too will continue to ponder them. Let me know if you find the answers ;)