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"The Truth About Love"Words are easy to say... and the word love is no different. Think about this for a moment—When you say “I love you,” what are your ears straining to hear in response? “I love you, too.” What if your ears don’t hear that? What if they hear, “That’s nice” or “Yeah, right.” What happens to the quality of your love then? Is it still as fervent? Or does it drop a few degrees.Spouses tend to love each other conditionally. You treat me lovingly and I’ll treat you lovingly, and if you don’t treat me lovingly then expect the same from me. That may be normal and natural, but is it really love? Parents sometimes tell me—“I love my child too much to discipline him or her.” Does such a parent really love the child? Or are they afraid of losing the love of the child? A teacher tends to love all the students who sit quietly and respectfully in their desks and always raise their hands before speaking. Of course we love pupils like that! They make our job far easier and far more pleasant. But let’s not say we love those kids. We love ourselves.And that, at the root of all things, is the problem. Which is why we are commanded to love our spouses, our neighbors, and our enemies—with the same love we lavish on ourselves. We are born lovers, it’s just focused wrong. When we learn to love our spouses, neighbors, and enemies— only then is our love finally real.