my difference between like and love

Like and love, I think the main difference is choice. You don't need to like a person to love them.

When I like a person, I make a choice to like them. The choice may be based on who they are, I might like that personality, those fiery eyes, the way they tilt their head back when they're smiling or laughing, the sound of their voice. These are things you grow and choose to like. Or dislike.

Love on the other hand has two sides to it, or so I believe, an unconditional nature which is the love you're supposed to have for all mankind and animals alike. It's a love that is extended to other things, a concern for the well being of the people around you, a want in yourself not to see the people around you hurt, this is the love God said to have for your neighbor. However we hear the words "I love you", though rarely meant, bandied about like pamphlets at the mall. It's quite sad really.

The other side of love is not so much conditional as it is a conditioned response to an increase in your like of another person's qualities. Those eyes, smiles, personality, laughs and such. This love is a further building of the like that you have, it also or more appropriately should incorporate the unconditional love outlined above. It integrates a deeper connection between two human beings. It usually culminates in a physical expression of that love. Thus relationships are born which lead to marriage, so on and so forth, all dependent on those within the bounds of the relationship.

At the end of it you should have a love a lot like that of 1 Corinthians 13. Though difficult to achieve (I personally think it is near impossible however this is because I realize how selfish I can be and how difficult it would be for me to love like that, it wouldn't stop me from trying) it is the perfect definition for love.

Peace.