Loving With Heart and/or Mind

We love with our heart when that is who we are. We love with our minds when that is just what we should do.

God loves because he is love. He does not decide that he should love people for some reason. He just loves because that's his nature. We may love because it is the social call for action, for example, if someone gives us a gift.. Or because it is the right thing to do to be consistent with our beliefs, like loving the enemy or the unloving person next to us.

There are persons who, like my mother-in-law loved because of her heart of love. I doubted she gave it any thought that she should hug us when ever we came to their home. She was just being who she was. Her husband also could show love, but it seemed more just the appropriate thing to do- not as spontaneous.

When a couple prepares to sleep at the end of a day, they may hug or cuddle spontaneously. But after the have slept and one wakes up, he or she may consider whether snuggling close would be love if it may disturb the partner; perhaps loving intentionally would be to leave the person alone. This would be loving with both heart and mind.

A question comes to mind of whether one can shift from a tendency to love mainly with the mind, doing so when it is just the appropriate thing,  to become a person loving with the heart as well. It could be assumed this could happen with a married couple if the mind-loving person thinks about loving and responding to the love initiations of the partner. Perhaps also by being loved, a person may acquire a sense of love that had not been strong in his life earlier. It may also be that when a person shows love as a part of Christian commitment, e.g., perhaps as a missionary, or pastor, or anyone, a capacity to love from the heart will also grow on him.

Another source of growing to love from the heart may be that of fellowship with God. Recognizing God's love in a person's life in so many ways from birth or before, may lead one to be a more loving person when one is thankful daily for that continuous love. Why not also ask God to give you a heart of love so one can love spontaneously and not just because it is the right things to do? There should be various ways, then, that a person can grow in loving with the heart, rather than loving mainly where loving is the expected response.