With the month of love upon us, I have been thinking quite a bit about love. There are different types of love, and I think about the many different ways we experience and express love. The Ancient Greeks categorized love in four different types: Agape, Phileo, Storge, and Eros.
Agape love is unconditional and love that sees beyond imperfections, mistakes, and shortcomings. It is similar to what I would describe as Christ’s love because it is the kind of love that one would feel towards all human beings. I feel this love for some of my coworkers, acquaintances, and others I meet or see in passing. When I think of the people I read about in the news, those people who have lost loved ones or are struggling, I feel this kind of love for them. With these feelings, I have hope for them that they will experience comfort and peace. “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.”

Phileo love is the kind that is affectionate. It is the love of friendship. I feel this love for my friends and some of my coworkers. I desire to understand them, to talk to them, to share a bit of my life with them. The people I share these feelings for are the ones I go to in times of need. “What! You too? I thought that no one but myself!” (C. S. Lewis)

Storge love refers to love we feel for our family. It is the kind of love that is unconditional and allows us to want familial relationships despite wrongdoings. I have a very small family, and we have had many trials. I put my family through much turmoil as a young teenager. I have caused them much heartache, but we all still love each other and desire to be in each other’s lives despite the things that have happened. “It is my pleasure that my children are free and happy, and unrestrained by parental tyranny. Love is the chain whereby to bind a child to its parents.” (Abraham Lincoln)

Eros love describes a passionate or romantic love. This love is the type that compels us to want intimate relationships. This is the love one would feel towards a significant other. I would say that I have felt this before, but because those relationships did not last, I am wondering about what I really felt. I definitely want the lasting love in a future relationship. I will not settle for anything less. It must be genuine and come from a place of faith. “Eros is not tranquil – it gives us spikes of happiness rather than a constant feeling of wellbeing. It’s the love we feel at the beginning of a love affair and corresponds to the expression ‘falling in love’ since it is as involuntary an impulse as a physical fall.” (Francois Lelord)

There is so much love at Act of Love Adoptions for all of our children, birth parents and adoptive families! It is truly “A Act of Love”! We celebrate all of you in this month of LOVE!