By comparing love to everything from oxygen and fire to wind and war, songs and poetry emphasize its immense power — for good or for ill. Christian author Patrick Morley uses metaphors that focus on love’s practicality in everyday life:
“Love is the glue that holds us together and the oil that keeps us from rubbing each other the wrong way.” He also calls love “the WD-40 of relationships” because it “can seep into tight places where logic, threats and even promises just can’t seem to penetrate.”
St. Augustine, who predated WD-40 by centuries, knew that love not only eases friction in personal interactions but, with God’s help, can change hearts and lives. “Love all [people], even your enemies,” he advises. “Love them, not because they are your brothers, but that they may become your brothers. Thus you will ever burn with fraternal love, both for him who is already your brother and for your enemy, that he may by loving become your brother.”