Worth the Effort

What does love do? Love challenges you and sometimes it makes you madder than you've ever been. Why? Because you care. You aren't complacent, you can't be still and let it slip away, you can't keep your mouth shut- you're passionate- because it's the most real thing you've ever felt before. So real that no, there aren't words to explain it, you don't have one reason, you just know. Love makes you better, it doesn't let you compromise who you are, it builds you up, it doesn't tear you down. It reassures you of all your doubts, it calms your heart while at the same time it makes you feel like if your heart beats any faster it might just explode! Love gives you confidence and makes you feel driven. It plants a fire down in your heart that you really can't control. Love is selfless, it makes you realize just what that love the Bible is talking about when it says "the way Christ loves the Church" because it's yours and you get to take pride in it because it's something you've invested every ounce of your heart and mind and soul and strength into and it started as just this little seed of something you really couldn't even begin to explain but with love and hard work and time you've watched it grow and blossom into something beautiful and delicate. You take pride in that. You finally understand the effort it takes to form something so beautiful and healthy and wholesome. Maybe it took a few times for you to get it right, maybe at first you didn't know if it was worth it, maybe you didn't think you were worthy to have the responsibility of nurturing something so fragile and precious. And then -you see a couple, married for over 60 years, still holding hands, still looking at each other with that glimmer of passion in their eyes - and you realize WHY the tedious work, the energy, the effort ... is all worth it.