Unconditional Love

I think of unconditional love more in terms of you shouldn't expect something in return. Not that you should have to take abuse or mistreatment of any sort. But something in the sense of taking care of someone sick. They are probably not going to be able to do anything for you in return. But you love them, and therefore, care for them unconditionally. Also, the way parents love their children unconditionally. Parents take a lot of crap from their kids, especially during their teenage years. But they still love them.

~ Kristi

I just can't help agreeing with you, Robin, on this. I've actually taught it for years that when you define the boundaries of what is acceptable to you in a relationship, it's a demonstration of love! Thanks for visiting and for your comments.

I would go a step further and say that unconditional love is absolutely inclusive of setting boundaries. In fact, setting boundaries often takes great courage and is an act of Love. If someone is abusive and you say to them, "I love you but I will not be around you when you behave like this. It's not appropriate for me."

What you are doing is teaching the other person what is acceptable if they want to enjoy your company. Often when a child has no boundaries and the parents let them do what ever they want the child becomes very angry and rebellious because they NEED boundaries to learn what it appropriate and not. So do many adults. We begin at an early age to define our world by how others react.

If someone abuses us and we just let them do it and we NEVER tell them that it's inappropriate or that if they don't get help we will not be able to be around then any more, but instead we just take it then we are sending a message to them that tells them it's okay to be abusive to us. And we are not helping that person by doing that, we are letting them stay ill, which is not an act of Love.

Setting boundaries is an essential part of unconditional love. If we set a boundary and the other person keeps stepping over it then we need to remove ourselves from their presence, BUT we can still sending loving energy to them and hold them in our hearts in a place of love.

Hi Connie, and thanks for reminding us all of the true source of pure love.

Very interesting discussion! I'm not sure any of us is totally capable of completely unconditional love. The closest I can come to it is with my children and grandchildren. There are always those conditions that get in the way and affect how we feel about others. Only God/Jesus truly love unconditionally in the true and purest form.

Always go into a relationship, any relationship, friendship, romance, love, you name it....with your eyes OPEN.

The other person didn't ask you to give them your heart - it was your choice to do so.

You cannot control how others act, but you can choose how *you* REACT.

I allow myself to offer unconditional love until I see that it's taken for granted...and then I re-evaluate the importance of the relationship to me. Such actions save me lots of angst. :)

Barbara

Hi, Tom...Kimberly, thanks for visiting WD Favour! I'm just reflecting on how the comment section is even richer than the main article itself. But that is as intended because this subject is aimed at empowering and liberating. Thanks for the insight and depth your comments have brought to the discussion.

Unconditonal: "Not contingent; not determined or influenced by someone or something else"

An easily defined word. No expectations. Comes from, not from without.

Love: Pick a definition. There are many perspectives on love.

I am a Christian at heart, although my behaviors frequently say different. I know, for certain, that Adam was created with the ability to love before Eve came about.

This says to me that we are capable of loving, without external appeasement. A state of mind. An internal resource that regenerates sometimes more than what is dispersed.

Nurturing, care, humanity. It's a state of being/having/giving, not of receiving.

"Love", when misunderstood as something shared or mutually reciprocated, becomes tangible, expendable, burdensome.

"Love" as a state of mind, is freeing and unburdened by choice, emotion, or lack.

Imperfection: The reason why we are even questioning this.

Hello,

Here is what I know:

Full-time love-hate relationship: Unconditional and conditional

We must always remember the following that Jesus said:

If a man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:26).

And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. (Matthew 10:36).

There is, therefore, a full-time love-hate relationship concerning all such relationships. There is the hate of any family member's iniquity and the wickedness within oneself while there is also the simultaneous love of one's enemies (foes), even in this case within one's household. Hate the iniquity while always loving in order to potentiate enlightenment, thereby, selling nobody short (not judging them?just witnessing to the truth).

Combine this with the understanding that one is what one does, and you begin to understand the range of beingness conflated as Godliness. This is not the typical conceptualization of unconditional love. It's a combination of conditional and unconditional love. The conditional is relative and the unconditional is not. Both are part of the divine reality, the language of the revelation.

Hating iniquity is right. One is what one does, so hating the iniquitous is also right. That said, it must be tempered by loving the redeemable and understanding that we don't know who is and who is not redeemable. Therefore, we hold to a standard for others which standard also allows for the forgiveness of our own sins. We avoid the hypocrisy of judging and condemning since look at how long it took us to turn toward the strait gate and how far we have yet to go on the narrow way.

God bless,

Tom Usher

Just a quick note to inform you that your article titled, 'A New Life' was included in the October Blog Carnival of Christian Family Information Exchange. Thank you and continue to send us your writings.
http://olinepublishing.blogspot.com/2008/10/its...