Love life

It was the 23rd birthday of a special someone last April 25. I prepared a mini-party for him, and we celebrated it with so much fun and so much Love. While browsing the photos, I just realized how my idea of Love had changed as years passed.

Before, when I was still waiting for the person, who's the one for me, to come along, I thought Love is all about receiving. But I came to understand that Love is more than just that. Love is selfless; it's not about taking. Love is all about giving.
 

Just like the Love* that God has for us.In His Word, "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." 1John 4:8-10
 
This made me remember a poem which was my birthday gift to him last year. I'd like to share it with you. This poem is very dear to me because it talks about my Love story not only with him, but also with Him.

In curious innocence, I was all the while wandering…

Looking for life I cannot find, love I cannot feel
Over and over again I stumble, I fail, I drown in pain
Vintage of sorrow, of silent sobs, of longing heart resided behind my smiles
Empty life it had been, empty air I had been breathing.

         Until out of the blue, I found what seemed like
        two decades of what I’ve been subconsciously seeking for
        I saw a dying man at the cross
        willingly enduring great pain to wash away my sins – 
        all out of God’s gracious love and loving grace…

Years of meaningless living have suddenly blurred 

         and I learned to yoke my past burdens to my Savior and Lord
Outpouring my grief, my joys, my dreams, my secret fears,
         the weaknesses that I have tried all along to hide
Unto God, all of these, all my life, I have learned to entrust…

Maybe I was indeed so blessed
         that as the truth splashed before me and as I was embracing a whole new life
         I noticed the man whom God used, on purpose, to touch my stubborn heart
A man whose faith full of zeal and I have all the while admired 

         the perfect semblance of a gentleman – 

         the sincerity of the sweet voice, the depth of the honest eyes
Yesterday’s reservations slowly vanished, yesterday’s ghosts died
New and wonderfully fresh feelings sprung in my timid heart
A kind of love that I wanted, love that I needed,
          a kind of love that I have dreamt all my life
Realigning then my heart from fears and doubts into faith and trust,
Dominant now in my life are love, joy, peace, and contentment

          Having God as my first Love… 

          and having Maynard as a generous gift from God,
        who was perfectly designed to be my friend, the man I will always admire, 

          my love, my spiritual partner, my husband…

        Dear, you are the perfect gentleman to whom I will forever entrust my heart;
        the perfect Love that I will forever cherish, next to God…
 
If there's one thing that I have learned during those times, when I was searching for my "one true Love," I realized I could not find it anywhere else - it's on the Cross. Nobody could ever Love us the way Jesus Christ does. And so He deserves to be first in our hearts.

When times come that you feel like nobody cares, remember that in this world of rush and changes, one thing will forever be constant: God's Love for us - no matter how unworthy we feel, no matter how flawed we are. He's just waiting for us to come to Him and personally experience His unconditional Love for us.

          *Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  1Corinthians 13:4-7