True love has a tremendous endurance. It does not fail with time or the trials of life, for it understands the ideas of imperfection and compromise, and it is built of all the best qualities of feeling. Love holds our very souls in the strong yet gentle hand of compassion, sees us for who we really are, and then embraces all that is good, and cares for all that is flawed. Ever more rare and so very precious, such a personal bond between one and another, is truly the everlasting beauty of life.
Yet great love is not frivolous … it requires a partnership of effort, and it requires the test of time. Both need patience and respect, and both need never forget that what we forge in heart does form in time … and that honorable intentions, with devotion and honesty, means that we must also learn to love ourselves.