Perfect love is the love that is responsive rather than reactive. It pays little or no regard to the emotions aroused in any given moment. We love perfectly when the good we do cares nothing for how we feel. When we love perfectly we endure beyond endurance. We pour ourselves out despite pain, stress, sadness, or fatigue. Perfect love is shown by the parent loving the unlovely child: waiting through the temper tantrum; holding and soothing the child through her vomiting; making the groggy midnight march to chase away the child’s nightmares.
