How I Love Lee

I feel so blessed. I love being married to Lee. 

We've been together for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health...definitely for better or for worse. 

And I absolutely love him. I love being with him. I love hearing his voice. I love being on the same page as him. 

I just feel blessed. 

I choose to love him every day. 

I know that there are days when we get frustrated with each other...we disagree on things...but I still choose to love him, and he chooses to love me. 

Love is a choice. Not a feeling. I think my feelings can change with the wind. But I don't have to make my choices based on feelings. 

I really like looking at 1 Corinthians 13 when it comes to thinking about "true love." I mean, it's known as the love chapter. It's often read at weddings...inscribed somewhere for marital celebrations. 

In verse 4 it begins giving a list of what love is and what love is not...

Love is patient.
Love is kind. 
It does not envy, 
It does not boast, 
It is not proud.
It is not rude, 
It is not self-seeking, 
It is not easily angered, 
It keeps no record of wrongs. 
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 

Those are strong images of what love is and what love is not. 

I don't succeed at truly loving Lee every day according to these verses. 

I'm getting ready to teach a Bible Study Methods class for our Deeper small group at Connection Church. I am soooooooo excited about this. 

And one of the things that is consistent with every method of studying the Bible is application. 

It's one thing to learn about it...but I am missing the point if I don't apply what I have learned to my life. 

So...my personal goal is to memorize these verses again (I memorized them when I was a teenager)...and whenever I don't "feel" like loving Lee (or anyone else for that matter), I will meditate on these verses...I will make sure that I am applying them to my life. 

I want to love my husband even more than I do now. 

Marriages don't just get better over time...It's not like a fine wine that can be put on the shelf and get better by itself. 

A good marriage takes work...and a great marriage takes a lot of work!

But every investment in my marriage is worth it...and every effort to love like 1 Corinthians 13 talks about makes my marriage more delightful than it was the day before!

And that is worth it to me!!