Love -- More than a Feeling

I'm sure many of you have read this beautifully-written article "my husband is not my soul mate". If you haven't, I highly recommend you read it! She writes about the flawed concept of soul mates and how marriage is a choice. I've been thinking about this a great deal and agree wholeheartedly.

Love is a CHOICE.

The choice is to LOVE. 

To LOVE is to BE all that love defines.

Desperately rudimentary, yet so profoundly difficult at times.
I'm ashamed to admit how often I'm unloving to the person who I vowed to love most. I get caught up in my daily routine, to-do lists, life... I allow myself to forget the most important thing I have to do. LOVE.

I pray everyday asking God to change my selfish inclination to be rude when I feel stressed or things don't go "MY way", to be quick to lash out, and be easily provoked... God has a lot of work to do in this area of my heart. I will be the first to admit I am not an easy person to live with all the time, but I'm working on it. I want my husband to be anxious to come home from a long day's work, be able to relax and enjoy each other's company. My job is to make our home a safe-haven for my husband and children...to make sure they know they are loved and cared for... to provide a barrier from the world and satan's attacks. I fail to do this when I am selfishly focused on how I feel or when I am bothered and brush them off to make sure I cook dinner and get the laundry done within a certain amount of time... The most precious gift I can give to my family is my love and attention.

"When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers."                                                                                                                            ~Thich Nhat Hanh

Martin Luther coined the phrase,

"Let the wife make her husband glad to come home, and let him make her sorry to see him leave." 

What makes this come to fruition in a marriage is choosing to show love. Loving when we don't feel like it. I really believe that's what makes the difference in a marriage! I can speak from personal experience when I say acting in love despite how I feel is always very rewarding in the end and the feeling always follows, no matter how mad or upset I am. Try it sometime and see if your mood doesn't change. ;) It works!! Trust me!

"Marriage is not for a moment; it is for a lifetime. It requires long and serious preparation. It is not leapt into, but entered with solemn steps of deliberation. For one of the most intimate and difficult of human relationships is that of marriage. Infinitely rewarding at best, unspeakably oppressive at its worst, marriage offers the uttermost extremes of human happiness and human bondage - with all the lesser degrees of felicity and restraint in between." ~Gina Cerminara

I've learned that marriage is about choosing to look beyond human failure and disappointment, choosing to become an expert in forgiveness, and choosing to love your spouse unconditionally.

2 years ago I married the most wonderful man in the world. I chose to love him and [holy guacamole!] I get to choose him every day for the rest of my life! That makes me one happy woman!!

I love you, baby!!!