What does Marriage have to do with Love?

What does Marriage have to do with Love?  Many people think that marriage is the most important thing that we can do to show that we truly love someone.  It is a public display of devotion and love.  It is that one moment when we share the spotlight with our partner to say we are in this for life. 

The more important question is what is Love?  When you figure out what love is you truly understand the need people feel for marriage.  Love is the strongest emotion and most important emotion you can have.  Love is the blending of two hearts into one.  Love is the moment that you realize that you are not the most important person in your life.  Love is the giving of yourself to someone else because you desire to be with them no matter is going on.

Everyone longs to have someone that will love them.  We long for someone who will laugh with us.  We long for someone that will cry with us.  We long for someone that will dance with us.  We long to have someone that will hold us. 

There are so many that cannot out of fear express their love.  They are afraid that people will judge them or discriminate against them.  They are afraid that they will lose friends.  They are afraid that their family will abandon them.  They live two lives.  They live a life of open love within a closed relationship.  They live a life of loneliness in all other relationships.  Their lives are not complete because they cannot show people how happy and content they are.

People need to see that love is more than the gender of the two in love.  People need to see that love is more than the race of the two in love.  People need to see that love is more than the religion of the two in love.  People need to see that love has no boundaries.  People need to see that love is the deepest commitment that two people share.

We force people to live in a mold that we have created for them.  We do not want people to do things outside our way of thinking.  We do not want people to be different than we are.  We fear that if we acknowledge that people are different we have to face our differences.

Yet, this is what we have to understand.  Everyone is different.  No two people in this world are identical.  Even identical twins that share the same genes are not exactly alike.  One may be outspoken while the other is timid.  One may be a leader while the other one is a follower.  They may live different lives all together.  They are the closest example that we have that no one can be just like us.  If identical twins cannot be the same, how do we expect others to be the same as we are?

Jesus gives us all free unconditional love.  Jesus is there with us as we go through life’s ups and downs.  Even with this in mind, we want that person that can love us unconditionally.  Many are lucky that they have parents, children and friends that love them.  Yet, the love that we desire is that one person that we can share our life with.  They see our life from our perspective because they are there with us as we are going through it.

A true love is one that is not affected by time and space.  True love will last through heartbreak.  True love will last through deep sorrow.  True love is not affected by finances.  True love will last even if one departs the Earth.  True love is the one thing that we will always carry with us.  We will learn that we thought we were in love yet, when you find your true love all the rest seems foolish.  We learn that all our past relationships, whether it is family, friends or partners, were only a tool to prepare us for the Love of our Life. 

Love is the beginning of the sentence in our life.  Love moves us in the direction that connects our past and present with our future.  Love is the noun that describes our life.  Love is the verb that expresses our emotions.  Love is the only word that we need to have a full and satisfying life.

Back to the question at hand, what does marriage have to do with love?  Marriage is the exclamation mark at the end of our sentence.  Marriage shares with the world that we have found the other part of our soul.  Marriage is an outward expression of a deep love that will not be broken by the world’s struggle.

Why do people desire to be married?  The answer is simple they desire to be married to express their dedication to someone for the rest of life.  Marriage is much like baptism.  Baptism is the outer expression of our commitment to Jesus.  It shows the rest of the world that we have made a commitment to one person.  It shows that we are into this relationship for the long haul.  Love began the journey and marriage is the exclamation that shows the world our seriousness and devotion.

Why are we so afraid to let people marry?  Are we afraid that they may change the meaning of marriage for us?  Are we afraid that they are pushing their lifestyle on them?  Are we afraid that they may be mocking our committed relationship?  Why can we not just accept that people who desire to marry only want what we have?

Yesterday was a monumental day in the life of many same sex couples.  The Supreme Court heard the case to allow same sex marriage to become the standard not the exception.  We saw people that years ago would have been against us stand up and say this is the right thing to do.  We moved one step closer to the equality that so many deserve.

Yet, we are not done.  There is so many people throughout this world that face discrimination because who they love.  There are people that go to their death because they would not deny their love.  We will not be finished until all are treated the same throughout the world.

What do us as Christians need to do?  We need to accept that we are the example of a loved people.  Jesus loved us with all of our flaws and imperfections.  Jesus loves us just the way we are.  We as Christians need to give the same respect to all creation.  We need to accept that we have to allow people to freely express their love.  We may not want the same thing in our own life yet, we cannot deny love for others.

We have to pray for the right decision to be made.  It would be the strongest affirmation of love if the entire Supreme Court voted in favor of same sex marriage.  We as Christians have to pray for this outcome.  You do not need to change your life to accept that there are people that love others just like we love our significant other.

We have to pray that others in the world can be treated with same dignity.  We have to pray that governments throughout the world accept that love is not wrong.  We have to pray that no more lives have to be lost because of love.  Jesus died for all.  Why can we not accept this? 

Lastly, we need to pray that all people no matter who they are experience true love.  We have to open our hearts to accept that love is not for one group of society.  We have to ask God to send the love of life to all people.  We need to pray for our brothers and sisters that love be the beginning of their new life.