Love

I feel like this word is thrown around a lot, and I'm guilty of saying love a lot too. In Japan there is a way to say I love you, it goes Aishiteru (eye-she-tear-u (something like that)). No one in Japan says it though, bc it's an overly dramatic way of saying "I love you". It's like saying "I love you so much I would take a knife, gun, bomb, anything for you bc I love you w/ my whole heart and soul!" Married couples don't even really say it either. They use another way to say it. They don't play around w/ the phrase at all. A friend of mine explained it as being a "Shakespearean" way of saying I love you.
In America we say "I love that shirt!" or "I love your shoes!" we just throw the word around. When did we start doing that? When I think of the word love this is what I think of:

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (NLT)

⁴ Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud ⁵ or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. ⁶ It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. ⁷ Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

That is what comes to mind when I think of love. I think of such a powerful relationship that it not only changes you and wants you to be better, but it does that to the other person and it makes other people notice and it changes them too. That is what God's love and Jesus's love did. It was sooo powerful that it changed the world. God's love and Jesus's sacrifice was such an amazing act of love it empowered people to follow in their example. It changed them. 

Chris's love for me has changed me into a better person, and bc of that I want to love him more and everyone else more. I want to be more selfless and I want people to see just how powerful of an emotion love is. Love consumes you. When you're in love you keep thinking "What can I do to put a smile on this persons face?" you're always wanting to make them happy. You want to show them just how special of a person they are to you. It's a wonderful feeling.

Chris and I have gone through some pre-marital counseling and we have read 2 amazing books. We have read Love and Respect  by Dr. Emerson Eggerchis and The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman. Chris and I learned a lot by each other when we got through those books, and when we have arguments those books have shown us a healthy way to approach them and how to handle them. We also got a 5 Love Languages daily devotional Bible that we've slowly been working our way through.

I want to believe in love at first sight, but it's hard. Chris and I never experienced that, and we don't really hear those stories anymore. It usually sounds more like lust at first sight instead of love. Chris and I fell for each other quick, but it wasn't instantaneous by any means. I don't have any friends that have been in a relationship and stayed in that relationship that started as love at first sight. If you're reading this and you have experienced it, and you're still w/ that person and are even married to that person, then rock on. That's awesome, but that just doesn't happen anymore. High school sweethearts don't happen very often either, but look at Chris and me. We never did any of that on and off crap. We have always been on. We never took a break. There is a saying that I found that says, "I may have considered killing them, but never divorcing them," and that's the truth. Chris can drive me crazy mad sometimes, but I have (almost) never thought of leaving him. It has happened once though, but never since then. He's stuck w/ me for life now.

Cherish love. Divorce rates in this country are crazy. I want people to see that love is real and love can last forever. Being in a relationship is having a second job, but you hafta love this job. You hafta strive to be better at this job. When you wake up you hafta be happy about the person that you're waking up next to, and if you aren't living w/ them or aren't married to them then they're probably the first person that pops into your head when you wake up. Love is amazing and an all consuming emotion. Love makes you do crazy things that you normally wouldn't, but you love doing it. Be careful w/ love though. You may be head over heels in love w/ a person, but if that person doesn't love you back then love is going to hurt you. It's the most amazing emotion, and it can also be the most dangerous. 

If you're in love w/ someone and they act like they love you then you're going to be taken for a ride. They are going to use you and use those feelings for them against you in any way that they can. Don't let love blind you so much that you can't see these heartless people abuse you like that. Don't let them get away w/ any kind of abuse or cheating if they keep claiming that they love you and they won't ever do it again. Keep your head on your shoulders!