JosephBurke.com

Valentines Day & The Gift of Love

// February 15th, 2010 // Joe's Blog

It’s incredible to fathom the idea that I’ve spent a second Valentines Day with my lovely sweetheart and soon to be wife. Next year this time, we’ll both be married and living our lives with infinite bands of gold circling our fingers to signify our never-ending love for each other. This Valentines Day was special because it signified so many changes that have taken place in both mine and Alexandra’s life over the past year. Wonderful changes that signify our love and purpose we have for each other. The amazing thing is, our love grows stronger and stronger by the day, and some people are very hesitant to express their private feelings for their companion in public, but I’ve been one to sway a little bit different in opinion. I feel that if you do not know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the woman you’re with, engaged to and set to marry is your true soul mate, and you have reservations about the longevity of a relationship, then chances are it won’t blossom. But there are those rare moments in life, when two souls collide, and you get signs that he/she is “the one.” These signs are different for each and every couple, but their overall purpose is similar to the goal of finding your soul mate. Alexandra and I share this rare intellect with each other, even enough that we often complete each others sentences before one or the other is finished speaking. We’re so synced up that we accept the good, bad and all of the woes life dishes out, but the true deciding factor us is we both hold strongly to our faith in God, Christ and the power of prayer and healing. All couples have their niche in the relationship that draw them closer, and makes one another feel close to something far more powerful than they are. Never give up on your faith, hope and inspirations in life, and more importantly don’t give up on each other. Men, it’s okay to be mushy, cuddly and in touch with your X chromosome, women want to feel that.

My pastor preached an amazing message Sunday morning on “Love & Marriage.” Pastor Paul stated that to be healthy adults, the human body and mind must experience the following: respect, encouragement, comfort, security, support, acceptance, approval, appreciation, attention and affection. This is so true, and we should try to practice and demonstrate all of these morals with our spouses, friends and family. Christ said in John 13:24 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” Love carries a much broader meaning than acting out the action of loving. It means loving your enemies when they despise you, loving those that wrong you and loving Christ first above all things. Pretty powerful this four letter word called love. The foundation for staying in love is to make love a verb rather than one time gift. Love goes on and on forever, even when this weary rock we call Earth fades away, love will still remain. Love, love love!