Love.




Two lost souls who finally find each other, stare longing into their each other's eyes, the gentle caress, the whispered words of affection and the quickening of the heartbeat. This is usually associated with the swelling of the music, a tightening of the camera angle and the perfectly timed kiss as the snow lightly falls around them.  The stuff Hallmark movies are made of.  The stuff little girls often dream of. The type of love that oversells and under delivers.
Our general misconception of love leads little girls to become hardened and at times are taken advantage of as their ideals are dashed and they begin to look around for “ok” or “better than nothing”. This is not what love is supposed to be like at all.  Movies sometimes can get it right but most of the time they strive to sell something that doesn’t actually exist.  
Love is not the fairy tale we envision in movies or books.
Love is not the pitter-patter of our hearts.
Love is hard.  
It takes effort.  
It hurts.  
It motivates me to think about the other BEFORE I think about myself.  
It propels me to do things I don’t necessarily want to do, whether good or hard.  
It illuminates my heart to see someone differently.
It can instantly brighten someone's day.
Love is the parent who stays up all night with their sick kid.
Love is the husband who stifles the urge for a pithy comeback during an argument.
Love is the wife is resists the urge to gloat about “being right.”
Love is the teenager who quietly takes out the trash without being asked.
Love is the teacher who ties the shoes of a child for the 10th time in a day.
Love is the employer who recognizes success and gives credit to a staff member.
Love is the church goer who sees a need and meets it.
Love is the older sibling who lets the younger sibling go first, or have the biggest cookie.
Love is meeting with a friend just to listen to them share, never offering opinions or solutions.
Love is seeing people hurting and striving to be kind, because you have no idea what their day has been like.
Love is the parent who disciplines a child/teen/young adult for wrong behavior.
Love is the child recognizing that discipline is not unloving.
In many respects it forces me to take a look at my own heart, life, actions and strive to measure them against what my Heavenly Father has done for me, out of LOVE.
He created us.
He sustains us.
He treasures us above all other creation.
He fashioned us in His image.
He disciplines us.
He holds us accountable.
He calls us into relationship with Himself.
He gave us a choice.
He loved us in spite of our sinful choices.
He loved us despite repeated rejection.
He provided a way for us to be restored.
He called us.
He woo’d us.
He courted us.
He adopted us.
He died for us.
He taught us.
He rose from the dead for us.
He ascended into heaven for us.
He intercedes for us.
He will return for us!
Whenever I get a little hung up on love and what it is and isn’t; I look to HIM.
Whenever I get overwhelmed with thoughts of loneliness; I look to HIM.
Whenever I get dismayed at the world around me; I look to HIM.
He is my example of love.
He is LOVE.
Nothing else can come close to measuring up to His Great Love!

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