Love Seasoned With Time

Daily Gratitude Year 5-Day 225: Today, I am grateful for love seasoned with time.

Yes, time not thyme. How precious is this picture? Priceless, right. 

I am a sucker for love that has been seasoned with time. I know that asking God for guidance and wisdom matters when choosing a mate for a lifetime. What do we really know about someone from dating? Mostly, we see them best foot forward. 

There is nothing sweeter than a couple with decades of seasons together still actively choosing love every single day. 

Love is in the cup of coffee just the way you like it. The shirts on the hanger with the 2nd button buttoned, not the top. The lawn that gets mowed and the flowers watered. It is in oil changes and gas tanks filled. Love is help in brokenness and hope when things seem overwhelming. 

Mature love is breathtakingly beautiful. It requires relationship and time to learn each other's needs. It requires a deeper knowing from many hours in a true and honest relationship. It says: "I am with you." "I know you." "I love you where you are." "We drive each other crazy and I love you still... and maybe more... because I am yours and you are mine."

It is not so different when we consider a relationship with Christ. To know the heart of the Savior and to let him know our naked thoughts is relationship. He knows our thoughts and sees our actions, so we can't really fake it to make it. He longs for us to mature in our relationship with him so that we see with his eyes and feel with his heart.

Paul speaks to this:

Dear brothers and sisters when I was with you I couldn’t talk to you as I would to spiritual people. I had to talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in Christ. I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren’t ready for anything stronger. And you still aren’t ready, for you are still controlled by your sinful nature. You are jealous of one another and quarrel with each other. Doesn’t that prove you are controlled by your sinful nature? Aren’t you living like people of the world? -1 Corinthians 3:1-3

Ouch! To truly gain the peace, love and joy found in Christ, we need more relationship with him. If we are fighting and jealous of our brothers and sisters, we are out of step. If we must have our own way, we are disappointing the one who provided us with "The Way". 

None of us is perfect. We all have struggles and personal demons to slay, but each step toward him lessens the struggle as he wraps us in his healing, calm and perfect peace. He calls for us to grow together into a community of believers. He wants us to encourage, guide and help each other in times of brokenness. He wants us to celebrate and rejoice together, too. 

It deepens relationship. It is beautiful. It takes time. 


Today, I am grateful for love seasoned with time.