Friday, May 20, 2016

The Love Dare - Day 4

When I think about the fact that today is only Day 5 of the 40 days, I start to wonder and to hope that my hubby and I, and our married friends will not give up on this challenge but follow through to the very end, so help us, GOD!
Yesterday, while at work, I found myself telling 2 of my colleagues, a lady and gentleman about the Love Dare that we had committed to. The lady seemed very excited and encouraging about it. The gentlemen however, turned and looked at me with something close to surprise on his face and asked; “Do those things work?” Well, I would like to find out if it works. This is why I signed up!
Back home, we kinda got into a discussion with my hubby, after I had shared with him the events of my day. We both realised something profound: The Love Dare isn’t meant to change our spouses or to ‘work’ as most people would like it to. The main purpose of this dare is to change us, the individuals; to teach us to control/ lead our hearts to love.
Contrary to popular opinions that push people to ‘follow your heart’, the love dare asks individuals to lead their hearts. According to the authors, “Following our hearts would be so good if our hearts were always loving, in tune with God and desirous of the right thing. However, since as humans we are self-centered, prideful, and often deceived, following our hearts may not always lead us to do the right thing. Following our hearts means chasing after whatever feels right at the moment. Our emotions and feelings can be deceptive, leading us down the wrong path. Proverbs 16:25 cautions: ‘There’s a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it is the way of death.’”
There! Now you have it! If you want to use this to manipulate your spouse into loving you, stop! Wrong path! Change your heart, attitudes, etc first and all the rest will follow. Like I shared yesterday, my first resolution is to try and go for 40 days straight without allowing my joy and peace to be stolen/ lost of petty issues, no matter what. One day at a time. Devil, back off! I command you, in the Might Name of Jesus Christ, to go right back to hell where you belong!!!
Back to Day 4’s events: love is thoughtful
How precious also are Your thoughts to me… How vast is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. Psalm 139:17-18
Day 4’s dare required us to contact our spouses sometimes during the business of the day, with no agenda other than asking how he or she was doing and if there was anything you could do for them.
Again, we did this, but you see this is what we had been doing every day with my hubby, though sometimes when we fought; it was very hard to even pick up the phone, let alone, dial his number. What struck us, again, was that it wasn’t really about the calling or the kind gesture, but about the fact that we had to be very ‘INTENTIONAL’ about it all. Love is an intentional decision. To love something has nothing to do with the butterflies in your stomach, or the hibijibis, as one of our friends likes to call them. It is an intentional, conscious decision you make, with a conscious mind, to commit to loving someone, irrespective of their response to your love. You chose to love. From the day you chose to love, literally everything you do is intentional.
May God teach us to love right!