Because of love, young men and women are known to make tremendous personal sacrifices and even altering their life plans. With couples so devoted to each other, how is it that such love can sometimes dwindle away until nothing is left? Surprising as it may seem, at least part of the answer lies in failing to pay the price of true love.
A genuine mature love requires expending constant effort, self-denial and self-discipline. By way of contrast, infatuation comes easy for many reasons. Perhaps a young woman might expend the energy of what appears to be mature love because she is enamored with the idea that he likes me. On the other hand, some young men might in an apparent demonstration of love sacrifice their time and money because they are in love with how love makes them feel. But real love requires much more than these self-centered motivations in order to survive and thrive in the demands of the real world. Consider how the following common situations attack love.
• Resenting his wife's request for assistance as an invasion of his time, a husband mumbled the stench of a self-centered excuse rather than offer the sweet aroma of loving service. In the presence of such a foul odor, love simply dissipated.• With the lame reason that "it's just a habit," or "it's the truth" or perhaps "I hope to make him think," she hurled a sarcastic harpoon that tore into a human heart. With that deadly thrust an opportunity to love was extinguished.
• By failing to consult her opinion and respect her dignity, an opportunity to love was crushed as his arrogant attitude of "I know what's best for us" simply plowed over his wife.
• Although she knew exactly how to build up her husband, the poisonous judgment that "he doesn't deserve this," slowly paralyzed her love into rigor mortis.
Why do people so casually and deliberately destroy love? Unfortunately, whenever people are too lazy, apathetic, self-centered or hateful to expend the energy required to really love, relationships deteriorate. Genuine love entails actively and consistently seeking someone's well-being.
May God bless you as you take the time and the effort to truly love. It will cost you. It will demand sacrifice and self-denial, but love pays off. In fact, it is the price of love that has made your eternal life possible. It can also protect and build up a wonderful marriage.
Barry Newton © 2001
Other Articles Which Might Be of Interest
Choices Within Your Reach That Affect Your Relationships (Love Can Change How You View Someone Else)
What Does A True Friend Look Like? (Learning to love)