Young love....old love

In high school, one of my least favorite subjects was Literature.  Not that I don't enjoy reading.  I do!  I love reading for entertainment and information.

What always tripped me up was poetry.

Because, poetry was never a simple "roses are red".

Poetry always involved metaphors, similes, imagery and deciphering the true meaning of the poem.  All of which is very frustrating to a person whose motto is "say what you mean and mean what you say".

In my personal, morning quiet time, I've been going Song of Solomon.  Talk about metaphors, similes and imagery!  This is not exactly an easy study for someone like me, especially in the morning before the kids wake up.  Who am I kidding?  I'm not even fully awake yet!

Though I may need a little help fully understanding it, I do at least get one thing.  It's a beautiful love story and no doubt the bride and bridegroom love each other.

Ahhhhhhh, young love!

"Oh, to be young and in love!" we say, as if that was the best time of our lives.  As if those feelings are forever gone, never to be recaptured again.  Something in us tells us that the best times of our married lives are behind us if we've been married longer than ten years.  And, I'm here to tell you that's a lie!

One of my favorite quotes is from the movies Soul Surfer, "I don't need easy, I just need possible."

After seventeen years of marriage and four kids, it's not easy, but it IS possible to be old(er) and in love.  It IS possible to have your mate as your best friend.  It IS possible to still get butterflies at the mention of his name.

It just takes work!

In the Bible Study I'm going through, Kay Arthur writes, "...do you express the qualities of the one you love to others?"  (We're good at expressing the qualities of our spouses to others, just not the good ones!)

"Do you tell other people about the things you like about your betrothed or spouse?" (Again, we're REALLY good at telling others about the things we DON'T like about our spouses!)

"Are you so enamored that you can't help going on and on about him or her?  That's the example given here (in Song of Solomon 2)....That's the example we need to follow."

We spend too much time focusing on the negative and not enough on the positive.  Too often, we major in the minors.

Today, find a quality you really admire about your spouse and tell him or her.  Send a text or an e-mail out of the blue.

Give him or her a call just to say "I love you" and don't ask or expect anything in return.

Praise your spouse in front of others.

Go one day without saying anything negative to your spouse.

Keep it up!  You might just find yourself old(er) and in love!