If we do not have love, if it does not dominate our whole life and all our actions, we are not on the way to God. Jesus himself told us that he IS that way, the only way that leads to God. I am the way, the truth and the life. Love is patient when patience is the last thing we want. Love is kind and gentle when kindness and gentleness go against the grain.
Love is consideration of another, never of oneself.
Love is all these things and more, spelled out for us by Saint Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians. Love is all these things because we see God in our neighbor. No, it is one love by which we love God and neighbor, and love of neighbor is the only practical criterion we have for judging our love for God. If we do not love our neighbor whom we see, we do not love God whom we do not see. If we may believe Saint John, it is as simple as that.