The Love Dare #1

The Love Dare is a book that challenges us to love...We give up so easily.... because love is work.... and we are a lazy generation... In a nation full of failing marriages where for better or for worst really means only "for the better"... relationships that were once blooming in the good times....wilt and die through the bad times... This book is a study guide that was released with the movie "Fireproof" starring Kurt Cameron as he finds himself out of love with his wife and in "two different places"... he is challenged by his father to study what love really is...

This book is not just for marriages but can be applied to everyday relationships and learning to love all those we come in contact with... It gives you a different love dare (challenge) each day... In a society where we want everything done for us, fast food, valet, remotes, robot vacuums, diet pills... there are some things... we must learn to do for ourselves............

The first day of the love dare explains the importance of love for each one of us... we can have money, fame, a good job, but without love... we are left with a "devastating void"... The book says that if love is not present than our spirituality becomes superficial, our benevolence becomes self-centered, and our sacrifices insincere... If love is not your motivation... it is meaningless....

I've always been a believer that if you want to know the difference between lust and love, check out 1 Corinthians 13: 1-8.... It is the purest definition of true love

"1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

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. Love never fails.

We have all heard the verse "you have not because you ask not" which fittingly describes the first love dare for the week and that is to pray and ask God to teach me what love really is and make me a loving person"...

Do we live a life of love? Or are we miserable to live with... How many people have we run off because of our failure to truly love...because you see, we can only fake it for so long.... We come home each day... sit in two different chairs... and the only conversation occurs during a boring commercial... dinner involves Alex Trebeck... then off to the computer for some Zuma.. Then to bed...... we are set in our ways... a never-ending spiraling cycle of systematic existence with rare instances of randomness...

The book quotes that "love is the most SIGNIFICANT ingredient to a meaningful relationship. It is like having tacos... without the meat....... an empty crust with salad and lettuce and tomato... but without the most important substance........ The meat....

How do we dare love others when many of us have never really felt loved ourselves.... many do not feel worthy of being loved... and have never challenged ourselves that to have friends...we must be friendly... our friendships are based on what they can do for us.. .and not... what we can do for them... our love for each other is so conditional that the slightest severance of trust, amputates relationships forever.... why are we so quick to walk away..... Leave... abandon... disown...

We have children, brothers, sisters, friends, ex-husbands, wives, friends, past loves that we have not spoke to IN YEARS.... because our love was conditional.... it was not defined as above in 1 Corinthians... our love was impatient, unkind, self-seeking, easily angered, kept record of wrongs, delighted in evil, did not protect, did not trust, did not persevere... and it failed.... it toppled, crashed like a skyscraper into the city streets below... all that was left was dust and destruction.. We were left stunned and in denial that maybe WE had a "love restriction" ... we were only in it for ourselves...

We must break down... become broken... learn how to love for all the right reasons... not for a tryst... not for an "ego-boost" as I always call it, not to hear how amazing we are.. Not to look good... not to "be seen"... not when our other half is skinny and young...

We are desperate for love but we have conditions on our "lover"... they must fit our pretty little box of what we think we deserve... and we walk away from the one who loved us more than anyone on this earth.. Because we think we can do better... love is not a job that you leave behind for a better opportunity... love is work... every day... every hour... every minute... and no vacuum or remote or valet or “shop wife" can do it for you.... stop being lazy... I challenge you to dare yourself... to close your wandering eye.... turn off the chats... stop searching for "compliments from strangers" and love what sits across from you at the dinner table... if you can do this.... you will learn the true meaning of love.......................................