love: the selfless truth

                                                                                                                         Love.

It’s on everyone’s mind. On everyone’s heart today. Valentine’s Day 2011.

This past week Austin and I had the privilege of speaking to a few different groups of students about relationships. I don’t know the secret, I’m far from having anything figured out and I am a baby in the arena of marriage and the mysterious complexities of combining lives… but here’s something grand I do know about the age-old idea of love. It’s not about me.

Those words describe everything I want to be and, sadly, everything that I am not.  Even on Valentine’s Day- a day devoted to showing others around me how much I love and adore them- I can’t help but be consumed of what I want, need, hope for, or deserve. Selfish is my default. And hate to break it to ya- but it’s yours too.

So why is it that in a self-centered universe there was a God that created relationship, partnership and even marriage? I believe the answer is simple. So we could fully experience Him. God longs to relate and be in relation with us. US! So much so that He decided it’d be a good idea for His son to live, breathe, and function on this earth. An earth filled with undying love of self met a man that perfectly defined selfless. He shared, and sacrificed, humbled and hurt just like us. But after 33 years of faultless action and thought He gave His life so that we could know what true love looks like. It’s not about us. It’s about this. It’s about Him.

So this February 14^th, even if you wrestle with this definition of true love, I encourage you to think deeply of your relationships. Nearly every single tiff, argument, or fight that has kept me from loving my loved ones was because of this debilitating lie that it's all about me. And it's not. It’s time for me to look in the mirror. It’s time for me to own up. It’s time for me to take my eyes off my stinkin’ self.

I have claimed to know a lot in these 25 years of mine. I could call myself an expert when it comes to volleyball, Friends episodes, lip gloss, things that go with peanut butter, and scarves for every season, but I'm finding that despite the knowledge that I've accumulated- I can only be certain of one thing. And that's Jesus. So. Be sure on this Monday that true love’s waiting. And that’s the selfless truth.