can love be measure? if yes, how? if no, why?

Love is one of the most amazing, awe-inspiring, and utterly confusing experiences in life. It cannot be measured as there is no way to do so. How can something that overflows the heart and spirit ever be contained for measurement? How could we, and why would we want to, put something so free and miraculous in a box and label it with a numerical equation of measurement?When we find true love in a romantic sense, it is about giving of ourselves to another person who has captured our heart's attentions. Our time is spent trying to enhance the life of another and to help him or her have a happier, more satisfying life than they had before we entered it. We are adding dimensions that aren't concrete, but are emotional and spiritual.

If we succumb to the temptation to measure the love that we have for another, we will also tend to try and measure the love that we are receiving in return. This can easily lead to the game of "who loves who the most?" and it is putting your love in a competition mode. When we begin competing, we place ourselves and our partners on opposing teams. There will be a winner and there will be a loser. Why would we ever want that to be the standard on which we are basing our romantic relationships?

If we try to put love into a measuring device, we are taking the fascination and mystery away from this magical experience. It becomes nothing more than another concrete item that we can do with as we please. It is not something special and unique, but just something that we have and own. Love is not an item, it is an emotional experience.

There is, of course, the action of love when we give and do the things that we should to show our partner that we are dedicated to caring for him or her. This is love as an act of our will, rather than just a feeling. This is a mature love and the most lasting kind because it is the kind that cares more for another than for self. Again, however, there is no measuring it. Whatever the love, whether it is the emotional side or the acting side, it is not an item to put into a box and measure out and it is not a competition.

Airin' my dirty laundry in public!