“37”

 “37”

How do you define love?

I love ice cream…

I love fast cars…

I love flowers…

I love new shoes…

etc…

This type of love is based on what pleases us.

But giving love will greatly increase

your joy and happiness.

Word of advice to the Married…

If you think your choice of a mate was the wrong one,

try choosing to love your mate 

and see if your first choice changes!

If you have not seen Fire Proof, buy it today.

This is a great film and all couples will benefit from watching it.

 

Thirty seven probably has no meaning to you.

But to Sandy and I that number is significant.

As today, March 4, 2009, we celebrate 37 years of marriage.

 

Over the years, we have not always agreed with each other.

We have shared each other’s hard times,

like unemployment, cancer

and now a brain tumor.

The question is…

what keeps us from running?

What keeps us from looking for a better life

when times got tough?

The answer boils down to one thing…

Love

But before I leave you with such a simple answer

let me explain myself.

Love is more than a feeling. 

Love is a choice!

We chose to love each other.

And yes, our choice was challenged in every challenging time.

But the message is not about 37 years

 of choosing to love each other;

the point is found in this… 

The reward!

We both realize we could have never found greater happiness

 than the happiness we created

by making the choice to love each other.

Love is not something you find,

it is something you build.

We have discovered a long time ago

that if you focus on the negative in a person

you will choose to hate them.

There is enough negative in all of us.

But when you choose to love,

you consider others better than yourself

and take on a supportive role

rather than a critical role.

Isn’t it wonderful Christ chose to love us

while we were rejecting Him and

that He demonstrated His love by dying for us?

I can’t put it into word what Sandy and I have

because we chose to love each other.

But I can tell you

we can’t bear the thought of being apart.

If you think 1 Corinthians sounds beautiful…try living it!

Scripture Reading

1 Corinthians 13 NLT

13:1 If I could speak in any language in heaven

or on earth but didn't love others,

I would only be making meaningless noise

like a loud gong or a clanging cymbal.

2 If I had the gift of prophecy,

and if I knew all the mysteries of the future

and knew everything about everything,

but didn't love others, what good would I be?

And if I had the gift of faith so that I could speak to a mountain

and make it move, without love I would be no good to anybody.

3 If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body,

I could boast about it; but if I didn't love others,

I would be of no value whatsoever.

4 Love is patient and kind.

Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude.

Love does not demand its own way.

Love is not irritable,

and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged.

6 It is never glad 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.

8 Love will last forever, but prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will all disappear.

9 Now we know only a little, and even the gift of prophecy reveals little!

10 But when the end comes, these special gifts will all disappear.

11 It's like this: When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child does. But when I grew up, I put away childish things.

12 Now we see things imperfectly as in a poor mirror,

but then we will see everything with perfect clarity.

All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God knows me now.

13 There are three things that will endure — faith, hope, and love

— and the greatest of these is love.