Monday 11 April 2016

All you need is Love



Love at first sight is easy to understand; it's when two people have been looking at each other for a lifetime that it becomes a miracle. Amy Bloom::



Many of us are way too skilled at living with plan B. We are all too good at painting over cracked walls, at working around broken plumbing and at rigging dysfunctional wiring. We are all too good at getting along, making do and hoping for the best. We are too good at talking ourselves into a belief that things will get better, that our problems aren't really that big and we are better off than many couples. We all too skilled at living with less and thinking it's more.
Unfortunately when we do this we don't end up fixing what's broken, we aren't moved to seek help as we no longer see the places help is needed. We get up each day and make things work the best we can, but our best falls way short of Gods best... (Paul Tripp, What did you expect?)



Ouch! So challenged by this book! It's my hearts desire that Tim and I enjoy the miracle of growing old together and in turn celebrate a lifetime of love, yet way too often I let the self-love he speaks of replace genuine, sacrificial love and its these moments that cause my impatience and selfishness. Its this self-love which convinces me that my way is the only way and makes it more important for me to win than to develop unity.
These are the moments that over time shatter the fine china that is marriage. 

Love however celebrates the other person, it prizes unity and is willing to make the sacrifice necessary to achieve it. Love is not impatient and does not walk away, it perseveres and stays active until what God has planned becomes your actual experience. 
Love listens, works and waits.


As Paul pointed out in an earlier chapter, you don't build a marriage of unity, understanding and love in a few big moments of life, but in tens of thousands of little moments. Little promises are important precisely because they are little, and the cumulative effect of your little moments of faithfulness will convince your husband/wife that you can be trusted with the greater matters of life.

Today I'm praying hard God will show me the areas that I've become lackadaisical and mediocre and all the places I fail to live out Gods best. I pray we all learn to fix the cracks and blemishes as they appear and not settle for anything less than Gods perfect design for our lives and our marriages.

With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace. (Ephesians 4:2-3)

xx