Love is...

Love is hard,
  it's not easy,
You can't force it,
  it has to be given
And received freely,
  joyfully, abundantly.
Love is redemptive,
  it forgives again
And again, never holding
  onto the hurt, but not
Allowing yourself to
  disappear or be harmed.
Loving ourselves and
  others is a work of  life.
Never easy, always changing
  and ever growing in shape.