Love then enables us to seek the rights of our neighbor as an end, and our own rights as only a means. It is also the discernment to know the difference. It puts a long fuse on our emotional bombs, giving us the joy of gratitude, rather than anger or hostility. Love will not harbor the poison of resentment and its justifying tally sheet. Love rejects evil and will not rejoice in it through gossip or rumor, not even as a scale to measure our own virtue.
Agape love carries burdens and shares sorrows when human love gives up or burns out.
It is also the opposite of cynicism that is too calculating, too reserved, and too prudent to love. It is the deepest reason for trusting and believing. Love's hope looks beyond the present. It gives us patience and courage. All gifts but love are relative.