“What is essential is invisible to the eye.”

A wise lover values not so much the gift of the lover as the love of the giver.

How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride! How much better is your love than wine, and the fragrance of your oils than any spice! (Song of Solomon 4:10)

How will you know if you truly love a person?

I am greatly inspired to share a personal story I’ve been resonating about for a long time.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from the past years, bad mood happens. I can be moving happily along and boom-something happens to make me feel like the sky is falling.  And these are the times a lot easier to get harsh to people closest to me.

Who knows when two people have strong personalities, they tend to butt heads? Dennis and I had reached the stage where we used to fight almost everyday because he is smart & very opinionated while I am critical. It was a crucial and defining stage. This was the make or break season, either couples survive & turn more in love with each other or just give up.

I remembered clearly, Dennis kept on assuring me that no matter how crazy I was, he loves me. When I was so depressed about life, he kept on saying good things, that someday I’ll be an outstanding scientist. He kept on reminding me how beautiful I am. I knew assuring these to a hard headed girl took up lots of his energy, courage and selflessness.

He tirelessly told me that those terrible feelings I had were all fleeting. That no matter how far I run away from him, he will find me because I am worth it. He justified his intentions and established the idea that he chose me and I am his one and only rose. His deafening tone was so firm, I had no alternative but to submit.

Above all things he did,  there’s one thing that impacted me on a greater degree. He was able to say “I love you” even if he was very angry to me. Dennis confirmed the love factor and it gave me strength.

He manned up for me even if I was giving up.

Honestly, when I knew I am still loved (even if I messed up), I felt confident and softer inside. It transformed an inner hope that love never fails. And this was the best thing I learned from my partner- building each other even when you don’t feel like it. 

When you’re angry to your partner, can you still say words like “I love you” and “I’m here for you”? Do you still see him/her as a wonderful person, a person worth fighting for? Will you give up your destructive emotions just to make your partner feel loved? Are you willing to be selfless and build each other up?

It takes one person to demonstrate love and the other will follow. Hope in love.

Love never fails. (1 Corinthians 13:8)

“By this all people will know that you are My disciple, if you have love one another.” (John 13:25)

A happy marriage is the union of two good forgivers.

I just read a very timely and beautiful short story in one of the old papers on my work desk. This pageful paper was worth typing knowing that the meaning of love gets tossed around these days.

After he had been in the ministry or several years, a pastor was preparing a special sermon on love. When he went to his file cabinet to pull out the “Love” file material he had collected through the years, he was shocked to find that he didn’t have such a file! Thinking this to be virtually impossible, since he knew he had collected many anecdotes and quotes about love, he began searching through the cabinet folder by folder. He fully expected to find the Love folder stuck in another folder. He searched among the folders on Faith and Fasting, Healing and Heaven, even Christology and Christian education. But he didn’t have one on Love.

As he sat and pondered this situation, he began to think back over the sermons he had preached over the years. Then he suddenly realized that he had used bits and pieces of Love material in preparing dozens of other sermons. Quickly he went back to the cabinet, and sure enough, he found parts of the Love file in the folders labeled Patience, Kindness, Humility, Trust, Hope, Loyalty and Perseverance. The greatest amount of material on love, however, was found in his file labeled FORGIVENESS.

 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4:32)

Love keeps no record of wrongs. (1 Corinthians 13:5)