Let us celebrate love…

Let us celebrate love…
Not in candy hearts or diamond rings,
    colorful cards or fluffy bears
Not in fragrant roses or sunset serenades,
    candlelit dinners or starlit dancing
Not in passionate kisses or tender touches,
Not in butterflies and sparks

But grounded, steady love,
forged in commitment and constancy
    communication and compromise
    forgiveness and grace—
    oh, so much grace.

Let us celebrate love…
In our imperfect stumbling
    toward sacrifice and selflessness
In the hurt and the healing
    and the road in between
In tears that just won’t stop
    and the tissues that soak them up
In poopy diapers and sleepless nights
In cancer diagnoses and hospital visits
    and in the grief that is love persevering
In hands joined in prayer
and feet that run—
    just to be with
    the hurting and broken
    and bind up their wounds.

Let us celebrate love…
That is patient and kind
That fights—
    through the differences and disagreements
and puts in the work it takes
    to bring two lives together
That lasts until the wrinkles show up
—and far beyond.
That has weathered
    fire and rain
    joy and pain
    abundance and lack
    sickness and health
That walks through the shadow of death
    and casts out fear.

Love that would love
    at our most unlovable
Love that points to the greatest Love—
    who would choose
    over Heaven’s splendor
    an old rugged cross.

Let us celebrate Love.

"God is love...
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.
We love because he first loved us."
1 John 4:16-19 (ESV)

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (ESV)