Choose Love

Growing up I was a hopeless romantic and as a girl who didn’t have a boyfriend until college I HATED Valentine’s Day.  In fact, I wore black on Valentine’s Day in high school!  In my mind Valentine’s Day was the most perfect holiday when you were in love and it would be so romantic every single year when I found that perfect man for me. 

Well this year was the 10th Valentine’s Day I have celebrated with my husband and besides the fact that we were in a tropical location, it was extremely low key.  My husband was recovering from the stomach virus so we had a quick supper, watched Fixer Upper, and were in bed by 9:00 P.M. It wasn’t the flowers, gifts, or romance that I had a dreamed of as a young woman. 

But, it was a wonderful day spent with the man that I love more and more every day.  I have realized that Valentine’s Day doesn’t matter nearly as much as once thought it did.  Love is a big deal every day because we choose to love.  That’s right!  We CHOOSE to love each other.  We fell in love 10 years ago.  It was fast and exciting and we knew we were meant to be very quickly. I was so head over heels in love!  But a lot has happened over the last 10 years and that “falling in love feeling” doesn’t stay day in and day out.  Because we are human and live in a sin filled world, we have bad moments and bad days.  We have bed head and stinky breath. We get tired, cranky or just don’t agree. 

​ Through it all though, we choose to love each other.  Sometimes it is in the super romantic way or sometimes it is just through the routine of life but we make our love top priority.  This is all possible because we love God and know that we made a commitment before God and others that we would choose love above everything else.  As a Christian, God has commanded us to love others as ourselves.

John 15:17 This is my (Jesus) command: Love each other.

I have an adult step-daughter, a step-daughter that is a senior in high school, and a 5 year old little boy.  They all have different personalities and none of their personalities are like mine.  I have certainly had my moments of frustration and downright anger.  Just getting out the door this morning was rough and lots of things were said out of frustration.  We talk a lot in our family about the difference between love and like.  They hear me say A LOT “I will always love you, but I don’t like what you are doing.”  There may be cases that I won’t like the choices they make or even the person they are at that moment.  I make it very clear though that I always CHOOSE to love them. My love for them will not change, waiver or  fail.  Love is a choice and a commitment we make every day and we need to make sure we show it.  This goes for parents, spouses, siblings or friends.  It is meant for those we only see on social media who we may or may not agree with or even those that are hard to love. It is a commandment by God that we choose to love everyone.  God loves us with a love that we don’t deserve and we are to love others because of that.
 
John 13:34-35 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. 

1 Peter 4:8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.

How are you choosing to show love to those around you?  1 Corinthians 13 is a checklist of ways to show love to others. The Message Bible gives us this list: Love never gives up.  Loves cares more for others than for self. Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. Love doesn’t strut, doesn’t have a swelled head, doesn’t force itself on others, isn’t always “me first,” doesn’t fly off the handle, doesn’t keep score of the sins of others, doesn’t 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.  In my marriage I choose to show love by never giving up, by wanting more for my husband than I want for myself, by looking for the best, and most of all trusting God.  I know most of you are not married but you may be in a relationship that is headed that way or that serious relationship is just over the horizon.  It may be that you are surrounded by people at school or at work or even spend most of your time with your parents or siblings.  How are you choosing to show them love today in the good times and the bad?  Remember God commands us to show love!

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Written By: Heather