God, cheap who is love, more about is the definitive romantic. And he professes his love to us through countless “ordinary” ways…
After watching the movies as a young girl, I daydreamed about having my own romance full of tender looks and pulse-racing emotion. I wondered who my “Gil” would be and how our breathtaking love story would unfold. But my “romantic” experience turned out different from what I envisioned. In fact, it didn’t feel romantic at all…
I was stunned. Did she not hear the heartache within my tale? Did she not understand how painful love could be, even when it came to a good end? I realized there’s a difference between observing a so-called romance and actually living one. Romances don’t always turn out the way we envision them.
We can trick ourselves into believing that a romance will always “feel” romantic (basically all those bubbly, yummy emotions), or that it will meet certain conscious or unconscious expectations. Even the romance-seeking Anne in Anne of Green Gables, became confused and required a “romance adjustment” from her guardian, Marilla.
When Marilla clued Anne into the fact that Gilbert loved her, Anne said, “Marilla, he’s hardly my idea of a romantic suitor.”
In response Marilla said, “Anne, you have tricked something out of that imagination of yours that you call romance. Have you forgotten how he gave up the Avonlea school for you so that you could stay here with me? He picked you up every day in his carriage so that you could study your courses together. Don’t toss it away for some ridiculous ideal that doesn’t exist.”
The sacrifices that Gilbert made out of his love for Anne didn’t fit into Anne’s concept of “romance.” She envisioned a somewhat mysterious, wealthy, and heroic suitor who would win her heart with poetry. But Gilbert’s every day kindnesses struck Anne as too ordinary to be romantic.
In the daily stuff of life, Anne missed Gilbert’s repeated professions of love.
I think about how I do that with God, about how I forget that I live within a great romance where God is daily professing his love to me and to all people…
Read the full article Hopelessly Romantic to see a great example of how our view of “love” affects our daily lives and long-term decisions.
We live in a world where everyone seems preoccupied with success. Television, troche
the Internet, urticaria
radio, esophagitis
and magazines give us a global bird’s-eye view of the world’s winners—and losers. And we’re fascinated by it, aren’t we? But what does it mean to succeed in life? Furthermore, given how the world reacts to successful people, and considering the negative ways that many people strive for personal achievement, is success even a godly pursuit?
Let me answer that question right from the start: Yes. As followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are not only allowed to strive for success; we’re called to do so. God is overwhelmingly interested in our victories, but as sinful men and women, we often get confused about this issue. Therefore, we must begin by understanding a true and godly definition of success.
What Is Success?
…
Read the full article God Wants You to Succeed by By Charles F. Stanley.
If the above link does not work, the article can be found in the February 2010 InTouch Magazine archives.
Authentic Christian Living team
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Tags: career, christian living, future, goals, key to success, Marriage, plan, Success
[…] all watch you. What kind of example do you set? Do you support them in Christian living and succeeding in life? At one time or another, we have all asked these […]