True Love's Kiss

It's an overcast Saturday morning, and there's a day bursting with potential right before me.
I wish I felt more like staying in bed all day. Instead, I am thinking of chores to do and bills to pay.

The kids and I climbed up on my bed last night to read, and got into an interesting discussion. D' asked me a question.
He said, "Can I kiss a girl if I love her?"
Which is not really the sort of thing you want your 11-year-old thinking about, but whatever. Good question.
So, I asked, "What is love?"
I was particularly impressed with my own swift thinking on this occasion. Because, this looked like a teaching opportunity to me, and also rather a delicate one.

D' and M' spent a few minutes defining love. They talked about emotion. About how a person makes you feel. They talked about action a little bit, but the focus was on emotion and self. They differentiated among different kinds of love. Maternal, romantic, friendship, etc...

So, I restated the question with their definition, "It's ok to kiss a girl if she makes you feel good, and you have a fluttery heart? What about if she ticks you off?"
...."Then I might not love her anymore." Was the all-too-honest answer.

So, I opened up my bible to that over-taught chapter in 1 Corinthians 13. God's definition of love is there, and it worked beautifully into this discussion.
We applied it specifically:
If you love a girl, you will act with patience and kindness. You will be neither jealous, nor boastful. You will treat her with the best of manners, seek her best above your own. You will not be easily angered by her, and will think only the very most honorable things when you think of her. You will fight for what is true, and protect her from any sin. All of this, plus, you will be able to honestly promise that your continuation of these actions will protect and harbor her forever, without fail. This is love.
If you love a girl, then, by all means,
Son,
kiss her.