love and sacrifice

it is impossible to remove love from sacrifice. it is impossible. if i am going to truly love someone i have to see the times that their relationship asks me to move outside of myself as my oppurtunities to love. i am so glad that one doesn't need to knokw someone to love them. that i don't need to know ----- before i can sacrifice for him, give him grace, try to see the best in him try to have patience with him. for so long i have felt like people have to establish themselves as worthy before i can expose myself to them by loving them. i couldn't risk being made a fool of. but then that is what love is isn't it? if none of us are deserving of it then anyone who receives it is in a position to make the giver look very foolish. at all times. love is risking and enduring embarassment, pain, discomfort, injury to pride. i feel so comforted now. knowing that i can love without any need for it being returned, or to feel that i have done it properly without making any mistakes, or that it will bind me to any relationship. no. love doesn't have to be returned, can be exectuted quite clumsily, and can be done at random with no regard for your level of intimacy with that person. i feel so much better now. i have recently realized how selfish i am and have asked God to make me a more loving person, to show me how it is done. is this what an answered prayer looks like?