LOVE & HAPPINESS

The years have come and gone by so quickly. You think that in the moment of your pain and sadness that "this is it for me. No more!" You have cried your heart out until you get headaches and your chest feels to heavy to breath. You shake your fist in the air, looking to blame someone, anyone but yourself. You are simply too tired of trying and crying. Love hurts, one person said. Another person replies, "yes, but it should not hurt this much".

We are told that in order for relationships to work there must be trust, honest and communication. We give the significant other unwaviering loyality, we almost idolized them. They represent everything good we want in a person and we know they are not perfect but it is not perfection that is driving us to go foward ... swept off our feet with a tidal-wave of emotions. Then we find a "leveling off period". We start to notice things that before did not bother us or we brushed those things aside. Now, they become a growing source of concern and fustration. He is always late. She never seems to stop talking. He does not want to go out and romance you like he first did. She starts feeling like she is not sexy and desireable to him as before.

Unchecked, the love birds drift slowly and slowly apart ... retreating to what is "common ground", going back to how things were before, this love train ran into you. One reaches out but the lack of consistency and the poor demonstration of affection does not reinforce that she still loves me, that he wants me and only me. The fire starts to flicker even more fervently now and no one seems to care to breath. The dying process starts. But wait. She kneels in prayer, he cries out to God. They both want the same thing but strangely have forgotten how to communicate. Life demands their attention and what was so breath-taking months and even years ago has given was to a drag, a push ... it was effortless before.

He goes gets roses and gets reservation and a resturant overlooking the ocean. She buys a new sexy dress and gets a make over. He leaves her a note ... "I am sorry". She smiles. Later that evening he says to her, "let's start over". She says, "OK''.

You ask a 1000 people and you probably will get a 1000 different answers to what love and happiness is all about. For me it comes down to this, "are both of you willing to co-exist and make it a priority to always communicate and do the things that makes the other person feel loved and happy? Love and happiness comes from a sense of well-being and fulifilment. So, in the the immortal words of Al Green, "Love and happiness, You be good to me I'll be good to you, we'll be together, we'll see each otherwalk away with victory". Read 1 Corinthians 13.