"All You Need Is Love..."

I am guessing from the title that you all know what the topic of my blog is about this week: love. We had the discussion in Forum about important values in life; as you know, we had to get in groups and pick up to seven of the most important ones. My group was two, and we picked amazing ones.

They were as follows:
Challenge (my choice)
Love
Integrity
Faith
Creativity
Courage
Passion

These are not in order of importance, mind you. We simply were a team of seven people, and each of us got to pick one value that stood out to us the most. I had picked Challenge because, A. It was relative to me and B. It was number 13 on my list, which is my favorite number.

As the class went on, I really tried to pay attention to other groups' reasons for the values they picked. And, though it was comical, I have to say that I agree with our infamous Chuck more so than anyone. Love truly is all you need, as he professed. In everything you do, love should not even be questionable. It should be apparent in your actions. I can demonstrate what I mean using some of the values I listed on my personal que.

WISDOM can be gained through love: achievement of falling in love, maturity of that love and loss of love as well. All of the stages of love make you wiser, particularly the demolition of love.
ACCOMPLISHMENT could not be possible without fervent love for the task one tries to complete. It is achieved by he who applies flourish to each thing he does. Only then, can one truly be an accomplished person.  
COURAGE: Okay, we've all heard of this one. When a soccer mom is able to lift her van off the ground to save her child from being crushed beneath it. Do you seriously believe she could dare to believe she could do this without love? No. The mother has an unconditional love for her child, causing her to have the courage to lift the van at all costs.
CHALLENGE creates a drive inside us. That drive may be selfish, but it is a love for accomplishment, power, reward. Without the loving dedication we give to each challenge, each challenge would be failed.
And my favorite mentioned in this blog:
HOPE. "Hope requires the contender Who sees no virtue in surrender. From the cradle to the bier The heart must persevere." -Dean Koontz, Odd Thomas Koontz himself says in the last line of this quatrain the word "heart." "The heart must persevere." Not mind, not body, nor spirit or soul. Heart. Believe me, I could preach a day's sermon on the many aspects of this poem, but today's focus is on love, right? What Koontz is saying is basically this,"Who ever hopes for something must not let giving up be an option, no matter the cost. From first to last breath, should your heart keep you going." Ever since I read this in, say, tenth grade? I fell in love with the quote, and decided to make it one of my life's mantra. I have hope in all things, and I do so because I am in love with life itself.

Love: a four letter word. Easy to spell. Hard to believe. Love is everything. Love is a noun, a verb, and altogether lovely. It is altogether perfect.

Love is, all you need.

*If you have never seen Across The Universe... this will convince you to watch it.