Love Is...

36, Day 56 (Written Sunday February 5)

As a dad it is my job to teach my two sons how to love. Somewhere in the world right now there are two young ladies who are depending upon me. There is a good chance they don't know me and that we haven't even met. There is so much about them that I don't know, but there is one thing I do know: the type of husband they will have is almost entirely in my hands. I am raising the two boys who will be their husbands and how they will love their wives will be powerfully influenced and shaped by what I teach them and how I love their mother. They will learn how to love a wife by watching me love their mother. I must instill in them the truth that love is patient and kind, not envious, boastful or proud, does not dishonor, isn't selfish, or easily angered and doesn't keep a record of wrongs, it trusts, hopes and perseveres, and it never fails. I take this job very seriously.

Although it is my job to teach them how to love, they will have to discover on their own what it means to be in love. The best I can describe it is like this: Being in love is when you find yourself reading magazines that you have no interest in just because its something that she would read. Being in love is when you make the bed everyday, even though you don't care if it's made, just because you know she likes the bed to be warm when she gets in at night. Being in love is when you get excited doing mundane daily chores like dishes, laundry, cooking or cleaning the floors because you know it will make her day. Being in love is when you don't want to go to sleep at night because you just want to look at her. Being in love is when you want to make sure you both go to heaven to ensure you will never have to be without her again. Being in love is when the things she thinks are her flaws are beautiful to you because they are part of her. Being in love is when you no longer care if other guys think you are manly because you know that in her eyes you are "the man." Being in love is when she makes you breakfast and it makes you as happy as any gift you've ever received. Being in love is when people ask you what is the greatest moment in your life and you can't answer it because you have so many. Being in love is when you realize how many things she does for you everyday and you can't figure out how you ever made a woman like that love you that much. I can't teach these things to my sons. They will have to find someone on their own who makes them feel these things. But what I'm trying to do, with both word and example, is to teach them how to love the girl who makes them feel these things.