love, love, love....

Today I am reflecting on love.  My mushy womaness needs to think about love.  So often I am struck at random moments in my day at how fortunate I am to have the love of a wonderful man.  With Valentine's day, the Hallmark holiday of love, coming up  I ponder the subject of love today.  We are planning a special communion and agape feast celebration at church to celebrate the love of a beautiful creator God and our Lord and savior.  

I wonder if because Adam and Eve walked in the garden and had a face to face relationship with God, that they appreciated each other in their marriage so much more.  I wonder because whether they were able to see more clearly the beauty of their strengths in each other because they could see them directly in God.  We were both created in his image, man and woman he created them.  Men have their physical strength, ability to problem solve and "fix," to show a love that makes woman feel as if they are the only other being in this world to him, as Christ loves the church.  Man has a full list of other wonderful qualities, but I shall leave it at that for now and those who chose to comment may add to the list if they so chose.  Women are blessed with beautiful emotion and emotional thinking, nurturing, and desire for relational connection.

Woman also has a full list of wonderful qualities.  I am convinced that it wasn't until after the fall that man and women began this whole "I don't understand you," Mars and Venus thing.  Sin deceives us into being lazy and not trying to understand each other empathetically.  It takes too much work and strength to communicate?

Being a woman I am inclined to think further upon our emotions and that aspect of which we obtained from God.  God calls us to "submit" to our husbands.  Today's woman sees this word "submit" as a dirty word.  " I don't have to submit to anyone, I am my own person. I can do what I want when I want.  Women's lib and all that."  Submission to your husband and to God is such a beautiful thing.  It isn't always easy, but is beautiful none the less.  Christ submitted to the will of the desire to save humans from this desperate sin we live in.  God promises to never leave us or forsake us, no matter the ugliness that we commit.  His love is so great it is an ever lasting love.  Submitting to my husband is a little piece of that.  How beautiful for him to receive the love and respect that he deserves.  When he feels that he loves me and makes me feel like I am his world.  I will never tire of hearing John say "you are my everything."  He says it even when I am a mess, but I know that he means it.  Hearing thus makes me want to be a better wife.  We have our short comings and still need to work on our communication, but we prioritize and work at making each other most important.

I have had the privilege of witnessing great love for each other in both my maternal and paternal grandparents.  I have the honor of having friends who have beautiful love; the Moores, Painters,  Burnets, Duncans, Martinez', Gredekis,  who are all beautiful to be around and and witness the dance of two united hearts. ( I have also been embarrassed  for  a lot of couples because of how rotten and degrading they are to one another.)  We all need to be that good example to those around us  to show that beautiful unity of the trinity and God's great love for us in all our humanity.  We need to continue to appreciate each other, men and women, for the strengths and differences that we have that make our relationships complete. 

I could go on for hours, but I am hoping that all of you will comment and leave your reflections to my ramblings and your own thoughts on love.