Is it really love?

The price of roses (and other kinds of flowers) is about to rise. Shops will most likely run out of stocks of cho-colates, cakes and pastries by tomorrow. Concerts in hotel ballrooms and fine dining restaurants will be fully-booked. It’s big business every Valentine’s Day, especially in this love-crazed country of ours.

But do we really know what “love” is? What does “love” really mean?

A group of professionals posed the question “What does love mean?” to a group of 4- to 8-year-olds. The answers the kids gave had more depth than any of them had expected. Think about their remarks:

1. “When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That’s love.”

2. “Love is when someone hurts you, and you get so mad, but you don’t yell at them because you know it would hurt their feelings.”

3. “Love is what makes you smile when you’re tired.” (I actually like this one.)

4. “Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My mommy and daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss.”

5. “When you tell someone something bad about yourself, and you’re scared they won’t love you anymore. But then you get surprised because not only do they still love you, they love you even more.”

6. “Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday.”

7. “My Mommy loves me more than anybody. You don’t see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night.”

8. “Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.”

9. “Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.”

10. “I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes, and she has to go out and buy new ones.”

11. “I let my big sister pick on me. Mom says my big sister only picks on me because she loves me. So I pick on my baby sister because I love her.”

12. “Love cards like Valentine cards say stuff on them that we’d like to say ourselves, but we wouldn’t be caught dead saying.”

13. “You really shouldn’t say ‘I love you’ unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.”

What then is love?

Love is when you wish the best, do the best and offer to serve your best for the object of your love.

But the word love is greatly misunderstood.

You don’t use the word “love” if your sole intention is to consume. You cannot actually say, “I love my chocolate cake” because you do not desire the best for your cake; in fact you want to eat it. Love in this context is just a desire to consume for your own pleasure and delight.

But when an overseas Filipino worker says, “I love my children” and is willing to face the pain of working in a foreign country just to earn a few dollars to feed them, you know that the love there is the desire to provide the best, do the best and offer themselves to serve the children the best. That’s true love.

“In our company we work as a family because we love our people.” Great line designed for employee or talent retention. But do you see the leaders in the organization wishing, doing and serving the object of their love?

During this “Love Day Celebration” we should take time to remind ourselves of the model of True Love – when the Father sent the Son to die on the cross, so you and I may have eternal life in Him. Now that is wishing, doing and serving the best for the object of the Father’s love.

Happy True Love’s Day to all of you, tomorrow!

(Send “Inspire” to 288 for Smart or Sun subscribers and 2889 for Globe to receive your daily inspirational quotes and thoughts from Francis. Visit facebook.com/franciskong 2 for more details.)

February is Down Syndrome Consciousness Month! Show your support by joining children with Down syndrome and their families in HAPPY WALK on Feb.20, 8 a.m., at SM North Sky Dome. Visit also the Down Syndrome Association of the Philippines’ ART EXHIBIT with Silab Artreach featuring the recent works of CLARISSA TIONGSON-ORTIZ, a young deaf and mute artist with Down syndrome. Exhibit runs from Feb. 24-28 at R1 Corridor, Rockwell Mall, Makati.