The Side-effects of Loving

Just like medication there are side-effects to giving and receiving love.

In giving love we take all the tenderness, understanding and compassion out of ourselves where we have been hoarding them and lavish them over someone outside ourselves....a little like slathering jam on bread. Most of us are not terribly sure how to apply it elegantly, so we just smear it all over hoping not miss any critical area.  We are so enamored of the object of our love that we cannot do too much for them.  You know it is really serious when you realize you would be willing to donate a kidney (or your own heart) to them or take a bullet for them.  Those things are kind of risky, but there is nothing too foolish, too dangerous, or too terrible to endure for the sake of your love.  Your own well-being takes a backseat to the well-being of your love.  We are brave, expansive, generous and forgiving.

In receiving love we learn we have value greater than we ever imagined.  We become confident and bold, become risk-takers, feel ourselves capable of achieving anything simply because we are important to someone else.  We can feel the love pour over us like warm honey........sweet and comforting.  We are brave and expansive and generous and forgiving. 
We are lifted up by both the giving and receiving of love.  Our internal manifestation of the deity is closer to realization because God IS love.

Yes, indeed.  There are side-effects to love.