I Never Dreamed…
28/01/07 07:16
During the Wednesday
night Bible study the question came up about my
marriage proposal to Robin. “Will you marry
me?” I had thought only one thing prior to that
question; “I want to spend the rest of my life
with that woman.” Oddly enough, Robin thought
the same thing. Good for me! But what we didn’t
concern ourselves with were the particulars, such as,
where we will live, how much income we will make or
how large our family will be. We never thought of
prenuptials and we didn’t look for an
“escape hatch.” We were in love and that
was good enough. In fact, being in love was really
all that it took. Believe me, Robin put up with a lot
of garbage the first years of our marriage. And if it
wasn’t for her love for me and she knowing that
deep down, I truly loved her, I believe that the
marriage would have ended. The blessing of all this
was Jesus Christ coming into our lives and changing
both of us. We have been married for over thirty
years and we would never have dreamed that two people
could have such a wonderful relationship together.
I’m not saying that all of our days are peaches
and cream, but on the days when I don’t have
the peaches, she has the cream. What we have
discovered though is this: Our love had to be
seasoned with life. We went past the romantic love
and went past the “duty” love and now are
living in what I call the “committed”
love. The committed love entails all that is romantic
and all that fulfills obligations and joins with
another in oneness. This kind of love doesn’t
come right away –it can’t. It needs time
to get to know the good, the bad and the ugly. It
loves right through it all!
It is this sort of love that God offers us through Jesus Christ. First, you are ecstatic and filled with all kinds of joy because your sins are forgiven and you no longer stand condemned. Next, you begin to labor in service to God because of your love for Him. At times gratitude may be your motivation, but at other times, if you are honest, you fulfill your obligations because –well frankly- that’s what you do. Finally, after you have walked with the Lord through the vales of shadows and He has laid you down in green pastures, after times of being hidden under the Shadow and at times being exposed to dangers –you develop a committed relationship that goes beyond childish “crushes.” Picture the young lady in the flowery fields pulling the petals from the daisy; “He loves me, He loves me not.” That is a childish relationship and God doesn’t want that for anyone. Rather He would have us to be so committed to Him that we never question that He is so committed to us.
I can live with and without many things in this world. But I cannot live without His love. Have a blessed week, Beloved.
It is this sort of love that God offers us through Jesus Christ. First, you are ecstatic and filled with all kinds of joy because your sins are forgiven and you no longer stand condemned. Next, you begin to labor in service to God because of your love for Him. At times gratitude may be your motivation, but at other times, if you are honest, you fulfill your obligations because –well frankly- that’s what you do. Finally, after you have walked with the Lord through the vales of shadows and He has laid you down in green pastures, after times of being hidden under the Shadow and at times being exposed to dangers –you develop a committed relationship that goes beyond childish “crushes.” Picture the young lady in the flowery fields pulling the petals from the daisy; “He loves me, He loves me not.” That is a childish relationship and God doesn’t want that for anyone. Rather He would have us to be so committed to Him that we never question that He is so committed to us.
I can live with and without many things in this world. But I cannot live without His love. Have a blessed week, Beloved.
|