Lilypie

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Bookworm Deluxe : Love Is A Verb

I just finished this heartwarming and touching book by Gary Chapman. Heard about him? He is a senior pastor and marriage counsellor in America and the author of "The Five Love Languages".

This book "Love Is A Verb" is a collection of true stories on the different facets of love. Would you love your child if he knows he will be handicapped for life? This mother did and spent all her energy and resources on her handicapped child even though she has two more normal children.

Will you love your child if he had done something awfully wrong and the rest of the family wanted you to disown him? This mother did and her other kids cut off from her but she managed to hold the family together in the end.

Will you love again when your spouse of more than thirty years died of an illness? This woman did three years after the death of her husband, even though she already have three grown children and grandchildren. She married his best friend, who also lost his wife earlier.

Will you love your own adopted children as much as your own children? This woman did, who adopted four more children in addition to her own birth children and love them like how a mother loves her children.

Will you offer a cup of coffee to park rangers when they have to stand in the snow, giving the bad news that the park was closed due to heavy snow? This man did. After turning back to the cafe at the entrance of the park, he bought hot coffee and chocolate for all the park rangers who were freezing out there doing their jobs and they were ever so grateful.

Will you sacrifice what you really want for your loved ones and family? This man did. He sacrificed his well-paying job just to stay home more often to take care of his baby (he loathed changing diapers and were scared of feeding) when his wife was working shifts.

The stories in this book teach us the meaning of humanity, forgiveness, sacrifice, commitment. How many of us are actually committed in a relationship? More often than not, we claim we are committed but actually we start griping when we come across our partners' faults.

But real commitment means examining ourselves, making things better and making the relationship works. For instance, I can wonder why I am with him when he drives me up the wall at times. There were also times when I wanted to just break up and stop creating trouble for myself since men equates trouble.

But then again, when I examine myself, I start to wonder, why is he with me? There is really no justification he will continue being with someone like me, yet he does.

So instead of focusing on each other's flaws, we can focus on how we can make things better.

After all, love is a verb. You make the decision to love and thus should make things work instead of taking the cowardly way out and escaping before anything even started.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone


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