Ordinary Love

I have never been one of those hopeless romantics.  I really dislike "romantic" novels, movies, and television shows.  The media's idea of "romance" is a carefully crafted illusion, a "pretty little lie" that has corrupted far too many mind and led to marriages full of disillusioned brides waiting for their "perfect man" to come along.  Even Christian women fall for this trap, some go as far as to day dream that some day, some how, the "dream lover" will take them from their mundane, ordinary lives into a world of adventure and unrelenting passion.  And this my friends, corrupts the fabric of marriage the way God intended it to be.

Now, before I go on, I must make a confession.  When I was younger I read a few romance novels and watched my fair share of "chick flicks."  As I said I was never a hopeless romantic but what I read, watched, and heard was enough to give me the idea that I should be looking for something spectacular in my life.  Something that sent my heart racing and gave me a rush that would never end. I was looking for that guy who was perfect in every way.  The guy who never lost his temper, never argued with me, never unintentionally said or did the wrong thing.  I was looking for perfection.  Forgetting that perfection has only come into the world once and we crucified Him!

Of course, I have now grown up and understand, through frustration, disappointment and confusion, that what I was really looking for was not spectacular at all but something so simple it is amazing.  I was looking for a love that went far beyond the temporary sensuality of sex, to the imperfect and often messy world of enduring love.  It is a love that has been tested time and again by tragedy, stubbornness, selfishness, and the trials that come with being a parent.  It is a love that has taken two people and honed them to think more of the one you vowed to love than of yourself.  Real love, based in Christ, rather than in temporary physical passion, is one that looks the flaws that the media tries so hard to conceal, right in the face and says "I love those flaws because they are a part of you."  Real love, centered in Christ sees you at your ugliest, angriest, and most hurtful, and loves you despite them.  I believe that is the love that the world is so desperately searching for without even knowing it. The love we see written out in I Corinthians 13.

The "charity" (love) mentioned in this chapter is a love that require work.  Hard work! And it is a love that I am blessed to say I have found.  I call this love ordinary, only because that is how the world views it.  However, the love that I have found through Christ's intervention, goes far beyond the ordinary.  It is a I Corinthians love, wherein my husband looks beyond his own needs to take care of me even when I make it nearly impossible.  It is a love that I cannot full put into words and one that I wish the rest of the world could find!  A love that the world should be looking for above the romantic notions seen in books, magazines, movies, and on television.

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