A long post about a choice..

Oh the wonderful concept of marriage. And the ugly concept of marriage. America sometimes almost makes me want to never wed to anyone.

Me? Saying that? Can you imagine? Since I was a little girl I've dreamt of being betrothed to one man forever....I didn't dream of the perfect man. I just dreamt of one that I could love forever....with his countless flaws. As I've grown older, I've sat in several marriage classes, read books upon books on how to love someone well and build a good relationship, and have tried to learn as much as I can on the subject.

I used to think I would have a great relationship because of all the information I had gathered for myself. This all happened prior to any relationship experience. Now that I've been in a couple of relationships I've seen for myself how easy it is to be selfish, to get upset about silly things, to put yourself first and think that the other person isn't doing their part....or that the two of you just won't last.

Why? How does that happen? How do marriages fall apart?

Choice.

Easy enough, right? Each day you choose to love the person. You choose to stay married to them. You choose to love and tolerate their annoying quirks. You choose to not quit. You choose to be a team. To work things out. To put the other person first. Choose to be their friend and have their best interest at heart.

Simple and easy?

Well...that means putting yourself aside. Putting them above you. But wait. What about me? I'm important, right? Shouldn't he be doing this? Why isn't she being this for me? Why can't he remember anything I say? Why can't she just listen to me for once?

Just being in a relationship for a year has shown me that it's not easy...and I'm not even married or have a ring on my finger.

But it's possible.

It's possible to choose to love someone more than yourself. To make the decision to commit. To stay. To love. To be there. To be "the one" for them. It's a choice. It's a decision. And we can all do it. Hollywood, or our parents or the neighbors across the street who scream all the time, or the statistics, or our friends.....none of them have to influence our choice. We can choose to put aside all of that. All the negatives, all the doubt and all the self-seeking desires. And Love. Love not with our own love. Because we can't do it alone. Love with Jesus' love. The love He planted in all of us, that He cultivates and multiplies in us...for He IS love.
May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. (1 thessalonians 3:12)

So this is what I've learned about love and marriage and life. It's all about people and it's all about God. And that's all it's about. It's about loving people.. loving through the love that God has planted in us...
That's why love is so powerful. Because God is love. So when we love people...we're....Godding them...if that makes sense... We turn God into a verb when we love people. This is kinda a sidenote...

[[My thoughts are kinda going all over the place...they obviously haven't stayed organized as I had attempted to do yesterday. ]]

To get to the point.

Love. Choose. And fight. Fight to choose and to love. To stay committed against the odds. And in the end....continuing to make the choice everyday, you'll look to your side with absolute bliss, knowing your best friend for life stands there...even though he never remembers what you tell him.....

xo

above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude  of sins.