love

LOVE

The word means so many different things. For some it's romantic, for some it's a load of rubbish, or stuff just for girls, for others it means sex and for some it means the love or care shown to them by others. So what is love?

Funny Dating Adverts and Facts

"Young farmer with 100 acres would be pleased to hear from young lady with tractor. Please send photograph of tractor." - Advertisement in Evesham Admag, 1977.

SINGLE BLACK FEMALE seeks male companionship, ethnicity unimportant. I'm a very good looking girl who LOVES to play. I love long walks in the woods, riding in your pickup truck, hunting, camping and fishing trips, cozy winter nights lying by the fire. Candlelight dinners will have me eating out of your hand. I'll be at the front door when you get home from work, Call (xxx) xxx-xxxx and ask for Daisy.
Note: The ad above turned out to be an adoption offer for a black labrador retriever 8 week female from the Atlanta humane Society. It had 15,000 calls from men all over the country!!!!

When I was thirty my dates had to be young, tall, handsome, rich, intelligent. Now I'm 64, they only have to know how to read and use the telephone!

"A report indicates that email relationships can be far more intimate than normal dating. Women are most likely to find a potential lover online, with 72% admitting to having had an online romance, compared to 52% of men. The report also found that 33% of all online relationships led to a date." - The Sunday Times, Innovations, 17-1-1999

DRAMA - Say It With Flowers (source unknown)

Download what I believe is the original sketch as a PDF file..

3 characters. Props needed are flowers, chocolates. The 3 stand in a row with the middle person, number 2 (male as they represent Jesus!) set back. As they speak their lines they step forward.. maybe get some chilled music too..

1 - Say it with flowers. Tell her you love her

2 - No, say it with chocolates. Tell her you love her

1 - (slightly irritated) No, say it with flowers

2 - (disagrees) Say it with chocolates

1 - (raises voice) Say it with flowers

2 - (shouting) Say it with chocolates

3 - (calmly) Say it with nails through your hands

1 - (notices 3 and calms down) Say it with flowers

3 - (moves forward slightly) Say it with a spear in your side

2 - (steps back) Say it with chocolates

3 - (moves forward more) Say it with a crown of thorns on your head

1 - (quiet, moving back, uncertain) Say it with flowers?

3 - (forwards) Say it with hands and feet bleeding

2 - (quiet, moving back, uncertain) Say it with chocolates?

3 - Say it when you're body is bruised and beaten
(1 and 2 shrink back and 3 is now forward centre stage)

3 - (calmly) Say it with nails through your hands. Say it with a spear in your side. Say it with a crown of thorns on your head (stretches out arms in cross shape). Say it with hands and feet bleeding. Say it when you're body is bruised and beaten.. I love you (head drops forward)

END

VALENTINES DAY FACTS

- No-one knows who St Valentine was but the festival was a pagan festival that was Christianised
- The average single red rose costs from £3 to £50 in Central London
- The British spend over £20 million each year on Valentine's Card
- A good Valentines Day kiss exercises 29 lip muscles.. Say you'll get a couple of teachers up to demonstrate.. only joking!!

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT LOVE?

The Bible teaches that: Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. (1 Corinthians 13:4-8)

By the way, if you think the Bible has nothing to say about sex, you'll be amazed by the X-rated book called 'Song Of Songs'. In the time of Jesus, men had to be 30 and over before they were allowed to read it!

WHAT DID JESUS SAY ABOUT LOVE?

Jesus was an upside-down kind of bloke, did things differently. He spent time with people no-one else would associate with. He said that we should love other people as much as we love ourselves. He even said we should love our enemies!

This kind of love goes beyond what many of us would call love. Love is more than a feeling. More than falling in love. More than getting a Valentine's Card. Love is not about you and what you can get out of a relationship. It's about sacrifice. It's about loving others in a selfless way.

Just imagine a world where we did follow this principle of loving each other - of putting other people first. That is true love. That is the kind of kind of love Jesus showed and still shows today. We should also try to show this kind of love to people.