DEVOTION: February 7

We sat in a Starbucks with a latte and a shared muffin after my first counseling session. I was finally ready to begin healing from some intense life stuff, but it left me emotionally drained and also a bit panicked. After failing to find the right words, I finally blurted out to Greg the root of my wariness.

“I’m just so tired of talking and praying about it,” I told him. “I don’t know if I can or even want to anymore.”

And as I wiped at my eyes with those thin, brown napkins, he grabbed my hands and looked me in the eyes and said,

“That’s what I’m here for. To pray when you don’t want to and be strong when you can’t.”

A pivotal moment of our marriage that still makes me teary-eyed when I think about it.

We’d been married about three years at this point, but it was right here, in the middle of a Starbucks, that I began to actually see what love really was supposed to look like in marriage. Beyond DIY projects and productive Saturdays, beyond dinner dates and financial planning, marriage should decidedly model Christ and His love toward us…bearing one another’s burdens and loving your neighbor as yourself. Even if that neighbor is your spouse.

Today is our wedding anniversary. 18 years ago I was clueless to what kind of love marriage would require…ignorance can be bliss sometimes. Ours hasn’t been perfect and flawless, nor problem-free and movie-worthy. But it has been honest and honorable, authentic and transformative. Most of all, it’s been loving.

Obviously, marriage is just one example of Christlike love. We are commanded to love like this to everyone – yes spouses and neighbors, but also parents, friends, families…even enemies. What are some examples in your personal life where real, authentic Christlike love was exhibited toward you? How did it help you see the love of God better?

“And to all these things, you must add love. Love holds everything and everybody together and makes all these good things perfect. (Colossians 3:14, New Life Version)