Love is action, and not necessarily feeling (thank goodness, or my teens would have been put up for adoption! LOL!)
Or, according to the old saying, the proof is in the pudding.
You know you are acting with love when you act lovingly, even when you don't feel very lovey-dovey.
And that's the hard thing about the Christian walk - remembering that loving your neighbor isn't necessarily about hugs and feel good moments, but about acting with care and the knowledge that no matter how bad or wicked or painful he is, he is one of God's children, and behaving accordingly.
To do that takes the help of God.
INDEED
Borrowing from the excellent book on co-dependency:
LOVE IS A CHOICE
. . . to be loving by God's grace and help . . .
and to DO LOVING.
A mother loves ALL of her children she just doesn't LIKE them when they misbehave.
This is the only way that we keep from drowning them. LOL
The same goes for humanity. We just don’t have to LIKE everyone, that would be impossible. Jesus wouldn’t give us impossible assignments like that.
Unfortunately, many people don’t seem to know the difference between LOVE and LIKE.