So after an amazingly inspirational breakfast with passionate, Christ-filled friend, Abby S., the Love station on XM tainted my perfect snow-filled morning. Firefall's "You are the Woman" is still ringing when a commercial comes over the airwaves and unfortunately into my ears.
live in love,
Excuse my ignorance, if I get this wrong, but I'll take a stab... It was a woman who has recently written (and published) a self-help book telling women how to find men and get them to marry us in a reasonable amount of time.
Seriously? That sounds preposterous. ridiculous. luda...
There are so many things wrong with this picture.
If you charm Mr. Right This Minute so stratigically that he decides you are marriage worthy-however low that standard is- what do you do once you have him?
Does this book have a sequel titled How to Keep Your Husband or How to Make Him Actually Love You, So you Don't Get a Divorce?
Maybe I am being pretentious, but I along with most socially adept women could go to the local bar, bookstore, grocery store or online chat room and find someone desperate enough to marry us. This doesn't mean we should... or he should take us.
That is the culture we live in: obsessed with instant gratification in every aspect of life.
Love is not instant gratification by definition.
Using God's standard to measure love, 1 Corinthians 13 says love is PATIENT among a list of many things love is and is not.
It actually says patient first, before many other attributes.
It's patient not instantly gratifying.
Love is also kind.
It is not envious or boastful (except in the cross, praise Jesus), nor is it arrogant or rude. Unlike me most of the time, it doesn't insist on it's own way. It's never irritable even before coffee or resentful even after an ugly public fight. It does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices in truth.
My favorite attributes of love from Paul's letter to the church in Corinth: Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things and never fails.
This personification making love into a perfect human-Christ-convicts and encourages me with every reading. Feel free to raise your hands at this point and give the sister an "Amen."
My Bible study last semester went through Ephesians with Precepts teaching. We looked at 1 Corinthians 13 and inserted our own name for every "it" or "love."
Exercise time: Yourname is patient, kind... etc.
Even Merriam-Webster defines love as: 1. 1) strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties 2) affection based on admiration, benevolence, or common interest
Obviously, love is a cultivation... It requires time to acquire this admiration or affection by most standards Christian or secular.
So this book baffled me so much, I came home and went straight to iGoogle for some more info... Unfortunately, I couldn't find the exact book I was looking for.
I did find some other humorous titles that preach and teach about the same idea: check-list love. What a constraining though...
If you have read any of these and the message is different from my idea... by all means, enlighten me. I have a strong inclination I am right on this one.
The above pics are all from Amazon.com.
grace
