Love, what it is to me.

Twice in the last week I have sat down to read my Bible, and not having my daily reading list handy I just do the scientific method of flipping it open and reading whatever pops up; what popped up both of these times was Romans, with Paul talking about love. When it fell open to that page today I thought, ok, either my Bible is warped somehow at this section, or God is trying to talk to me. In this part of Romans, Paul says don't repay evil with evil, repay evil with love. Always try to live in peace and not in discord. I tell you what, that is hard! It is so natural to come back to someone with a smart remark, or jab back when you feel jabbed, and it is so very unnatural to take the blow and respond with love. I had the chance today to try to live this out, and while I cannot say that I have succeeded fully, at least I deleted the snarky text message that I typed in before I sent it, so that is a step, right? This is one thing that I really love about the Bible; you don't have to even get into the theology and Jesus and all of the other beautiful lessons to learn, you can just take two sentences written by a man, by Paul, and live the rest of your life trying and failing to live up to them.

Love is something that feels so natural; we seek it our whole lives. At 4 Mia already dreams of who she will marry and talks about being in love (or out of love) with this or that person. Why then is it so hard to live out? Why is it so hard to get along with people that we profess to love? I don't buy the argument that we fight most with people we are closest with... this just shouldn't be. For the people we are closest with we should be seeking to serve, seeking to honor them above ourselves. When we do act this out, instead of lauding us, people say we are doormats and are obviously being suppressed in some way. I guess if you aren't seeking to love like the love described by Paul then it would seem that way, if the truth that you see is to always be esteemed, always be right, always have the highest place of honor, then lowering yourself to serve your loved ones humbly would seem crazy and oppressed. I am so thankful that for me, that kind of love is one that sets me free. For the longest time on our bathroom mirror was a quote from a great book called, "Spiritual Marriage" that said, "what is important is not to be right, or to be well thought of, but to love." I swear that quote got us through some sticky messes in our first couple of years, and I think I need to get it permanently engraved somewhere, like maybe tattooed on my arm so I see it every day!

So I guess what has me thinking about these things are the little situation today I referred to, and news this weekend about the marriage of some very dear loved ones being on extremely shaky ground. I am so very sad about these things but am trying to pray the, "Lord help us live in peace and the love that you desire for us" prayer. If anyone reading this is the praying kind, please include prayers for our families and loves ones, their relationships and marriages. If you are not the praying kind, thanks for reading this anyway, we'd take some good vibes sent this way from you too! : )