We all have that moment. The internal battle at each passing. Do I smile? Say Hello? throw a head nod? Avoid eye contact all together? The result tends to be a graceless combination of all the above in one distressing gesture of weirdness.
Guys tend to do this to us girls, ESPECIALLY the "One." The thing is, how do we know he's the One? We don't. Plain and simple. We can have as many crushes as we like, plan as many "Chapel-on-a-hill-baby-in-three-years" lives, as we like. But what if he isn't the one God has planned for you? Good luck with that one, sweetie.
And we've all seen it before; in movies, books, TV shows, even that picture on EVERY social media site there is. "80% of all people marry their 7th to 12th grade love." But what happens after the marriage? If he's not the one God intended, then keeping it together will be impossible. Fact of the matter is, unless you met him in a good Catholic college, a youth group, church, pretty much ANYWHERE that has God at the center of it, you can find the "ONE." Not the "One", "The ONE."
"THE ONE", would be Jesus Christ. We all want Prince Charming to come in and sweep us off our feet and ride of into a sunset. But Love is so much bigger. Love came down to earth, became Man and died. Not for Himself. Not just because He Loves me. Not just because He Loves you. He died, because He Loves EVERYONE. He died, FOR EVERYONE. Because that's what God is. Love. With a capital "L". For in order to Love your spouse, you must first know the meaning of Love.
Love is being betrayed (by a kiss, no less) by one of your twelve closest friends. Love is being spat upon, lashed until your body is the same color as a stop sign. Love is being mocked, crowned by thorns, beaten with reeds.
Love is carrying the very thing that will kill you up the hilly roads of Jerusalem.
Love is slowly suffocating, hanging up in the air, only supported by the nails in your wrists and feet.
Love is taking on the sins of the world, past, present, and future. Bearing them your whole life.
THAT, is Love. Until we understand Love, we cannot fully Love our spouse. Because God is the center of every marriage. A woman should be so lost in God, that a man has to look up to God to find her. (One of Layna's favorite quotes.) And God. Is. LOVE.
~R.A.
The pink paragraph is a paraphrase/excerpt from Katie Hartfiel's book, Woman in Love. I would recommend all girls 12+ to read in. Though, the last few chapters are some that your mother may wish to read with you.
