like v. love

Do you ever feel the word love is over used? I do. I know I'm guilty of it, especially on this blog. I'm sure I've said I love some inanimate object or recipe many many times.

It must have been when I was teaching kindergarten that I first realized my / our / everyone's over use of this word to describe feelings. It may have been something said to me by an older nun and colleague, or possibly being more self aware as I taught young impressionable minds, but I began to think about the difference between liking something and loving something. Or someone.

The word love, in my own life, is a word used to describe feelings of affection and adoration toward living things like family, pets, friends, etc. Love should be reserved for the living (or once living).

If I say I love this necklace, for example..

source

Then what does that say about how I feel about these two handsome men in comparison? Should they be grouped in the same category?

There is just something in me that feels like love should be used to describe God's creations, not our own.

I know this isn't serious. And the word just places an intensity on how we feel and I'm pretty sure I will have a hard time limiting my use of it.

I'm trying to be better about using the word love to describe feelings of like.

So bare with me on this one!