I heart hearts.

I tend to notice things shaped like hearts without looking for them. They just appear. Over the years, I’ve taken pictures of a few of them. I also took a picture of bird poop in the shape of Africa too but that’s another post for another day…

Wikipedia has this to say about the heart symbol:

The heart (♥) has long been used as a symbol to refer to the spiritual, emotional, moral, and in the past, also intellectual core of a human being. As the heart was once widely believed to be the seat of the human mind, the word heart continues to be used poetically to refer to the soul, and stylized depictions of hearts are used as prevalent symbols representing love.

I love (pun intended) the heart symbol and it’s meaning. Even though our real heart is not shaped like the symbol, it is what gives us life. Without our heart we would die. Likewise, without love, we could not live. Not really live anyway. Our human heart would still keep pumping but our life would be meaningless with out love.

Here are just a few of the heart images I could manage to find easily in my mess of photo folders. I found a photo of a heart-shaped durian but there’s not really anything pleasant about that so it didn’t make the cut.

Cambodia, 2011

Cenacle Retreat Center, 2007

Kenya, 2011

Lake Catherine, Arkansas, 2008

Nepal, 2011

New Zealand, 2011

1 Corinthians 13:4-8, 13

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, 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.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.