Before you write me off as a 30 year-old spinster with slight feminist sympathies, I want you to know that I still believe in love. I believe in romance and my little girl heart longs for it—just not with a man. I mean, it does, but at the same time I’m still shattered from my mom’s two divorces (read post). I know that godly men exist, love their wives, teach their children about God, and desperately seek to live a life worthy of the Gospel of Christ. I am fortunate to be acquainted with such men. However, I am not intimately involved with any as either a daughter or a lover.
Oh, but how I enjoy a good romantic novel (I recently discovered romance novels with Christian characters have come a looooooong way since) or a chick flick! I feel happy (and slightly jealous) when a husband professes his love for his wife or vice versa. I do want to know that kind of love, even if my hard heart is fighting tooth and nail against it.
And, love, oh love—what shall I do with you? I mean, I love my parents, my friends, my pets, and of course, God. But those are different kinds of love than loving a man, than giving my self wholly to a man in the holy mystery of sex. (Yes, I’m saving my stuff for the altar, if I ever reach it!) For those of you who have been fortunate to find love, hold it close, even when the feelings fade and the commitment is what counts. Be committed to being committed. Singer/songwriter Andrew Peterson compares marriage to “dancing in a minefield” in his latest album, Counting Stars. Sounds scary to me.
There’s another reason I believe in love…and that’s because God is love. God cannot separate Himself from love because that is what He is. Love is His nature, His character, and His totality. In fact, when I consider it, how can I know love at all? God is so vast, deep, wide, and unfathomable—so love must be the same. We mere mortals try to tie it up with ribbons, flowers, cards, and boxes of candy. But have you ever stopped to consider that simple expression we’ve seen a million times above the Salvation Army or slapped on the bumper of a car? God is love. If we take time to really let that sink in, it should change our entire view of God…and love.
And Love came down in the form of a helpless babe and Love lived a perfect life, died on the cross, and rose again. Love truly conquers all—it just depends on your definition of Love. My definition of love is high because it is God. I even believe in the clumsy kind that we humans mirror because we are made in the image of God. I have to believe in Love, because I believe in God.
She is Beloved 
This was a beautiful post 🙂
Awesome post–well said!
beautifully put. we are created for relationship, with God and each other. for love and intimacy that dances fearlessly – if carefully – through minefields.
you remind me to cherish my beloved, because my Beloved cherishes me.
for one who “has no lover,” you speak well and wisely about such gifts.
THE NOTEBOOK has long been my favorite of Nicholas Sparks’ many books, so it is a happy surprise to me that the wonderful story transferred to the big screen with all the sweetness, warmth, and tenderness that made the book a runaway best seller. The best part of this movie was the incredible chemistry between Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling as the young lovers Allie and Noah. Their story was told by an elderly couple in a nursing home. James Garner and Gena Rowlands were outstanding as the devoted “Duke” and the woman with irreversible dementia. As Duke recounted the story of Allie and Noah from the notebook he carried with him, the lady’s memory began to come back and she could remember.The movie always changes the book but the one major change (the ending) which had the audience letting out a collective gasp and reaching for the nearest tissue was, in my opinion, really good even if it was pure Hollywood melodrama. Why does a movie like THE NOTEBOOK appeal to so many? Is it that every woman longs for a man who loves as deeply as Noah? Is it that every one wants a love that transcends all problems—those of class, education, family objection—-and lasts forever? Or just maybe in a world of high-tech gizmos and high security alerts, it’s nice to get back to basics with a really good love story….and this is definitely that.