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Tuesday, May 22, 2007

The Love of Marriage

Today Alise came back from her week-long trip to Alabama. I made it through the week without burning down the apartment complex. Though I did manage to eat waay too much junk food. All day I couldn't stop thinking of her, I had a special dinner planned and everything. When I got home I knew she was asleep so I snuck in the house so I could hold her while she was sleeping.
The point is that being in love feels amazing. Often it is even overpowering. But how much it must pale to the love that God feels for us. How do I know? Because God created us, created these feelings within us and the capacity to love. But it doesn't make sense that He would create us to feel a love more powerful than the love he feels for us or what we have the capability to feel for Him. Think about what it is about being in love that makes it feel so good. There are two things that stand out about loving Alise: One is the companionship, not just someone to hang out with and spend time with but someone to get through life with as a team. Knowing that decisions I make affect her, knowing that I am affected by her decisions. It's a great responsibility. But also the teamwork, knowing that she is there for me and I for her. Someone to take care of but who will also take care of me. Someone who has my best interest in mind. I can honestly say that I think of her before myself. The other thing that stands out about love is the intimacy. Getting to know someone on a level that I never cared about before. She is so totally open with me, I am learning so much from her. She puts her feelings, emotions, thoughts, opinions out there for me. She doesn't hold back. Sometimes it may even come across as rude, but when I think about it, and see that she is not meaning to hurt me. In the long run that openness is ideal. I know what she is thinking and whether or not I agree with her, I know where she is coming from.
Now if I take all of that, all those feelings for Alise and apply them to God, I see that I am lacking. Because that is the type of relationship that He wants to have with me, with everyone. God has my back, God is the ultimate teammate. The perfect companion. The problem is that often He is there and I am not communicating with Him. Andy Stanley said that we cannot just talk to our wife about how our day went, just small talk really, and expect the relationship to grow or go well. There is no communication there, we are not learning about the other person on an intimate level. Prayer needs to be on that next level. The problem is that I don't know how to get there. But I am learning, and it is critical that as I learn from my relationship with Alise that I apply that to my relationship with the Father. Something to ponder this next week is what it is about love that is so attractive. Make a list. Then think about how that applies to my relationship with the Father. The next step is to take what I learn about love through my relationship with Alise and turn it towards my relationship with God. After all, who wants to have one of those "superficial" relationships? Worse, who wants to have a "superficial" relationship with God; who loves us so much? I honestly believe that love is the key to knowing God. We just need to figure out love first. Society, I should I say Satan, (mental note: try not to sound so much like Dana Carvey's Church Lady...) has taught us so many things about love that just aren't true. Breaking those barriers and approaching it from a Creationist standpoint (why did God create love?) brings love into a whole new light.

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