Love.

Love is a funny thing.

Many people equate love with that bubbly, intoxicated feeling you get when you're starting a relationship with someone who knocks you off of your feet.

And that part is really fun, but I wouldn't call it love. It's infatuation, really.

And that doesn't make it bad. Infatuation is an important part of developing a deep love. Infatuation is that initial spark, the "chemistry" we feel and the desire to be around this person all the time. It's what initially draws us together and it's fun and exciting and most of the time, necessary.

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But infatuation soon fades. It never completely goes away, but it does fade.

Bills happen, babies happen, arguments and disagreements happen...

Life happens.

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And those bubbly feelings of infatuation soon get drowned out by the noise of daily life.

But I guess that what's so great about LOVE. If it's done right, Love gets bigger and bigger; Louder and more dominate. Each trial it gets put through makes it stronger and more durable.

Real love is an act of devotion and commitment. Real love requires the help of the Father's heart in us. Real love is hard but tender. Strong yet soft and compassionate.

And eventually, you come to this place, after the infatuation has faded, but the LOVE has grown so strong that you start to feel that bubbly excitement again. I guess you develop a sense of appreciation that runs so deep that you begin to feel like the "luckiest girl in the whole world" when he looks at you...just like in the beginning of the relationship.

Your heart flies out of your chest when you watch him cradle your little girl in his arms and kiss her "owie." Your gratitude permeates your every cell when he's holding you and reminding you of how much he loves you and will never leave.

Paul and I celebrate six years of marriage today. And I can HONESTLY say that I LOVE him more today than I did on the day we we got married.

You amaze me, my Love. It's an honor to be called yours.

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Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude or self seeking, it is not easily angered and 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.

1 Corinthians 13: 4-7