The closer you draw to the flame, the more you feel the fire.
From the 120 Meditations · #117 · Destiny
Of living a romantic love story
I am worthy of living a romantic love story. I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine. (Sgs 6:3). The Bible opens with a wedding in a garden and closes with a wedding feast, and in between, the first miracle saves a wedding from running out of wine. Romance is not a distraction from the spiritual life. It is one of its native tongues. Bernard of Clairvaux spent decades preaching on the Song of Songs, because the love between two people is a window into the love God has for the soul. So I refuse to let love grow ordinary. I pursue, I delight, I choose my beloved again each day, for love is not something I fall into once but something I rise into daily. And when I love and am loved, heaven recognizes its own language.
I take a breath and say yes to the grace of a romantic love story, loving and being loved with an everlasting love.
God has a plan for a deep and meaningful, robust and beautiful love story. Not a closed
one — a love that stays between two people and stops there — but an open love
story, where what you have together blesses the world around you.
These are the seven things such a love rests on. They are not stages to pass through and
leave behind. They are flames: each one has to stay lit, and any one of them going out is felt in
all the others.
Love can become a winter sun — still giving light, no longer giving warmth. When that happens the flame has usually not gone out. You have only drifted far enough from it to stop feeling the heat.
1
Christ the Cornerstone
Build every relationship on Christ, the unshakable foundation.
2
Wholeness
Commit to a lifestyle of transformation before committing to another.
3
Discernment
Discern the will of God for your life and relationships.
4
Masculine and Feminine Genius
Discover and embrace God's design for man and woman.
5
Shared Values and Beliefs
Discover God's blueprint and design your life around it.
6
Communication
Unlock the art of effective communication.
7
Covenant Love
Build a love worthy of a lifetime.
Until your love story is a masterpiece, your life is not yet complete.