The Gift of a Kiss

 

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What does a kiss mean to you? Think on that question as I tell this story from my own life.

In my senior year of high school, the theater department decided to do Little Women: The Musical. I was so excited! I had never done a musical before, and I wanted to be a part of it so much that I took choir to be in good standing with the music director! Auditions came and went, and I received the part of Meg March, the romantic, eldest sister in the musical. I was able to sing some of the highest notes in the score! When reading the script, I came across a stage direction that said for Meg and Mr. Brooke to kiss. This was before we started blocking rehearsals. I thought, I don't have to worry about this too much. I may not even have to do it.

Love versus Lust

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C. S. Lewis once wrote, "Lust is a weak, poor, whimpering, whispering thing when compared with that richness and energy of desire which will arise when lust has been killed."

Today we are fooled by the media's definition of love, which, in reality, is lust. Lust seeks to use a person for one's own gratification and pleasure. This way of thinking views another person as an object instead of a human with dignity. The term for this flawed understanding of love is utilitarianism. It is defined as, "using people for one's own gain". Lust is also closed to the possibility of life. Lust treats a woman's fertility as a curse instead of a gift. Contraceptives are used to prevent pregnancy. Lust strips the value from a person and only sees the exterior; what the body can offer. Lust grasps.

Love, in contrast, is free, total, faithful, and fruitful. These are four important characteristics of love. These are part of a couple's wedding vows, and they guide the husband and wife in love within the bounds of marriage.