“When one loves, one does not calculate.”  St. Therese of Lisieux

“To ‘spend out’ is to give up keeping score, to give love without calculation.”  The Happiness Project One-Sentence Journal:  A Five-Year Record

 

I can almost remember when my husband and I started saying, “I love you more” to each other – but not quite.  If memory serves me (and it doesn’t always these days), I read a book the first year of our marriage in which the main characters had a similar exchange.  They created a word out of the first letters of each word and signed their cards this way.  For example, “I love you more” would become ILYM.

 

The book characters used a slightly different phrase, although I can’t now recall what that phrase was.  Nor the character’s names, or the title of the book.  But I digress.

 

I wanted to emulate this idea and landed on “I love you more” and ILYM. 

Sweet sentiments turned to fake arguments.  Both of us seeking to “best” each other in the love department.

 

The longer we have been together, the more I understand what it means to love someone more.  When the honeymoon period gives way to the “life-is-hard” period (which lasts a whole lot longer, btw); you not only learn what your love is made of, you learn to do it better.  Not perfect, but if you work at it, better.

 

The more I see this man of mine trust God through the trials, the deeper my love grows.  The more he handles with integrity and grace, the more I adore him.  It’s a love much deeper than the butterflies and romantic gestures now.  But to be honest, there is no way I love him better than he loves me.  He truly wins that contest hands down.

 

A Different Perspective on “I Love You More”

 

Recently I saw a sign in a store that finally made sense of our back and forth exchange.  And I bought it, of course.  I wanted to share the words here with you.

 

 

Happy Valentine’s Day!

 

P.S.  If you want to read about the greatest love that you can have, check out my friend Jessica Thompson’s new book How God Loves Us:  40 Days to Discovering His Character in the Fruit of the Sprit. 

 

And now for this week’s featured post from the link up!

 

I relate so completely with Lois Flowers’ post The Most Important Truth About Covid.  And she brings such hope in the midst of the nitty gritty.  Very timely and helpful.

 

1. Share 1 or 2 of your most recent CHRISTIAN LIVING posts. (No DIY, crafts, recipes, or inappropriate articles.) All links are randomly sorted.

2. Comment on 1 or 2 other links. Grace & Truth linkup encourages community.

3. Every host features one entry from the previous week. To be featured, include this button or link back here on your post (mandatory to be featured, but not to participate).

We encourage you to follow our hosts on their blogs or social media.

MAREE DEE – Embracing the Unexpected
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LAUREN SPARKS
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LISA BURGESS – Lisa notes
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TAMMY KENNINGTON – Restoring hope. Pursuing peace.
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Now Let’s Link Up!

 

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