Love is based on freedom from coercion, both internal and external. It cannot be bought with good deeds but brings them forth. Transactions in love concern only counterfeits. People who try to buy love with good behavior resemble those who think that if they reproduce the sounds of footsteps they will achieve motion.

Love is given, never taken.

It is as much given to the person who receives it as to the person who gives it. That is why most exhortations for love are futile. We are asking others to give us something that is not in their power to give. Love is an act of grace. The best we can do is become a proper receptacle for it and let it flow through us. Our only mistakes can be to ruin the vessel or fail to pour when it is filled.