February, the Month of Love ♥
It’s that season when some of us are Boo’d up, and the rest…hmm not quite, but we’re still happy.
One thing I love about love is The Pursuit. You know when you’re just getting to know someone, there’s this relentless pursuit. The constant calls, the WhatsApp messages back and forth, the lengthy texts.
It’s exciting, it’s new, you’re hooked, and you want to be around the person ALL the time.
You want to speak to them all day, you look forward to seeing them. Dates are fun, even when they just consist of quiet walks where no-one is saying much. Just the presence of the other person brings a sense of satisfaction, and happiness.
Goodbyes can be hard, even when you know they are just temporary. New love is amazing.
And then somehow, things slow down.
You kind of get ‘used’ to being with each other, the new things aren’t so novel anymore. The little cute things slowly lose their spark. The love hasn’t necessarily diminished, but the overt and elaborate expressions of love have…
Whilst most would agree the pursuit should never stop, the reality is that it does. It’s the sad trajectory of a lot of human relationships.
If you think keeping the momentum in a relationship is tough (and expensive), try maintaining that same energy in a relationship with a faulty foundation. The ‘love’ will peak quickly, before it rapidly and sometimes hurtfully crashes.
If you find yourself pursuing a ‘love’ in a [hu]man because of loneliness, discontentment, insecurity, hurt – I can almost guarantee you will not find what you’re looking for. At first things may seem amazing, but beyond the surface you will realise ‘that love’ will not make you feel complete, valued, fulfilled or healed. Pursuing love ‘just because’, can get messy and leave you broken.
To those who are happy in love, continue to celebrate each other in love, commending the good in one another, and in love covering weaknesses.
And if you are not in a good place this Valentine’s Day, if you are unhappily single (because being single is not a bad thing – another post for another day), nursing a heartbreak, going through challenges in your relationship you are most likely not alone. Do not let this day ‘highlight’ all the things the things you lack, or things that are wrong. Instead bask in the knowledge that:
He loves you with an everlasting love.
(Jeremiah 31:3)
Yesterday at the Bible study I attend we were looking a this scripture and thinking about it is really mind blowing:
5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature[a] God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature[b] of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
(Philippians 2: 5-8)
Imagine leaving your home which is full of glory, comfort, complete luxury and every other great and incredible you can think of to go to a place that is the total opposite. And on top of that you’re subjected to all sorts of abuse, ridiculed, mocked, beaten – all for the sake of LOVE. Despite the sacrifice of leaving your glorious home, you’re rejected by the ones you came to show and give this Love to. It doesn’t discourage you, the rejection gives you more oomph to keep pursuing….now that is the definition of LOVE.
Complete Selflessness. Complete Sacrifice. That is Love.
The breadth, and depth of the love of God is crazy!! Too much for us to fully comprehend. And what’s great about it, is that it’s unconditional
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
(Romans 5:8)
It’s not limited to one day a year, but it’s eternal.
True Love is liberating and is found in Jesus Christ.
His love for you is so wide and runs so deep, that you were and always are worth The PURSUIT.
Happy Valentine’s Day
In truth and with lots of love
Faith xox