True love is from God and is based upon who He is; "God is Love." Because He is love, he is the source of all true love.

Now what does that mean? God loves because that is who he is. That is His nature. We are his children. As his children, we take on the character and nature of God: therefore we are love. We love because that is who we are. Also, remember,  love is a verb,  it is a "being"  and "doing" word.  Love is who we are and, because of that, love is what we do.

It has been said that we are to love our enemies, pray for those who despitefully use us. What does all this mean?

Jesus quotes as saying, if you... you to go one mile, go two miles.   Give to him who asks of you.... and your Father in heaven.

In aother place it says that we are to be as wise as serpants, but be as harmless as doves

It could be said that practicing the virtues cause growth, but it goes deeper than that. Just practicing the virtues can make us just as legalistic as following the law. For us to truly grow we must take the spirit of the virtues within us. We must look at the meaning and the intent of the virtues. This is more that us taking the virture inside of and saying, for instance, I love people. For us to truly have love in our lives, we must become love. Just as God is love, we also must be love. (This applies to all the virtues .....) What does this mean practically?