I鈥檝e learned some things about romance over my life.
路 Flowers wither, gifts pile up, and too many chocolates make you chubby. If that kind of romance is all you鈥檝e got, your relationship won鈥檛 survive.
路 The occasional romantic gesture sweetens even old marriages.
路 The most romantic offerings rise from thoughtful observance and faithful follow-through.
路 Romantic feelings may be the key that turns the starter, but it takes a well-maintained motor to keep the car on the road.
I appreciate romance too, but our world needs far more than romance. What the world needs now is love. A song by that title became a hit back 1965. Hal David wrote the words and Burt Bacharach the tune. Hum it, if you remember swaying to it or singing along with it.聽鈥�What the world needs now, is love, sweet love. It鈥檚 the only thing that there鈥檚 just too little of...鈥�
The song explains that the world doesn鈥檛 need more mountains or meadows (we already have plenty of all of those). But Lord, it pleads, what we need most is love. 鈥淣o, not just for some, but for everyone.鈥澛�
I never realized till today that the song is really a prayer. And who could argue? Certainly not me.
Lately I鈥檝e heard too many stories of failing relationships. My heart hurts for each one. 鈥淚 just don鈥檛 love him/her anymore,鈥� runs like a snaggly black thread through them all. 鈥淲hat does that mean?鈥� I asked one person and received a blank stare in response. Then came something about a lack of warm feelings.聽"But love isn't a feeling," I responded. "It's an act of the will." I had to learn that myself, early in our marriage.聽聽
The finest definition of love ever written came from the Apostle Paul, speaking to Christian believers, in 1 Corinthians 13: 1-7 (the MSG translation).
鈥�If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don鈥檛 love, I鈥檓 nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.
鈥�If I speak God鈥檚 Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, 鈥淛ump,鈥� and it jumps, but I don鈥檛 love, I鈥檓 nothing.
鈥�Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn鈥檛 want what it doesn鈥檛 have. Love doesn鈥檛 strut, Doesn鈥檛 have a swelled head, Doesn鈥檛 force itself on others, Isn鈥檛 always 鈥渕e first,鈥� Doesn鈥檛 fly off the handle, Doesn鈥檛 keep score of the sins of others, Doesn鈥檛 revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best. Never looks back, but keeps going to the end.鈥�
I can鈥檛 love anyone like that. No one can 鈥� except Jesus. When God鈥檚 Son lives in us, if we work with him, let him shape us, he also loves out of us; the Divine motor that keeps our relationships (of all kinds, not only romantic ones) on the road.
Happy loving, friends. And be well.
