Authentic Love

What does the word "authentic" mean to you?

According to Google... The word is defined:  

Authentic

1. Not false or copied; genuine; real
2. Representing one’s true nature or beliefs; true to oneself 

The words that jump out at me are, "genuine", "real" and "true". 

Who are the people in your life that are "authentic"? 

For me, it's the people that see the soul. The people that love unconditionally & love authentically.

Those rare people, whom you talk with, whether in a crowd or one on one, who focus on you and listen to every word spoken, as if you're the only one in the room.

To me that's authentic. That's the person I want to strive to grow to become each day.  

Though, in order for love to be genuine, you have to look beyond yourself and beyond the surface. 

Don't be authentic for Facebook, for Instagram, for Snapchat, or for your neighbor.

Be authentic for your kids, your spouse, YOURSELF! 

Authentic love is holding on when it's hardest to let go.

Authentic love is looking in the eyes of the person you love when they're in a hospital bed.

Authentic love is being pushed to become a better version of self.

Authentic love is a shoulder to cry on and snot on, when life gets ugly.

1 Corinthians 13:1-8 

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned,[a] but have not love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; 5 it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never ends; 

If we are not authentic with ourselves, we cannot be authentic with others. 

If we do these things without REAL, TRUE LOVE, we gain nothing.