Hello everyone!
Yesterday, I wrote about men who had nothing to offer us as women. The same could be said for any woman that behaved the same way as the men I described. Today, I want to tell you about the flipside - the men (and women) who do have something to offer us. The men (and women) who want to come along beside us and be a partner - to love us.
Men (and women) who have much to offer come with specific characteristics:
1) They work, period.
2) They want what is best for others, not just themselves.
3) They partner with you in every aspect of life: home, children, work, spiritual life, the good times and the bad times.
4) They do nothing to harm you and will protect you from someone who tries to harm you in any way.
5) They want to see you thrive.
6) They want to see any children in the relationship thrive and they actually like and love your children.
7) And last but certainly not least, they are responsible for themselves, their actions, their feelings and their decisions - they do not expect you to be responsible for them.
This is quite the contrast to yesterday's list isn't it? Yesterday's list featured selfishness. Today's list features love.
My hope, ladies (and gentlemen), is that you will pursue people like this and relationships where love and responsibility abound. We must love and value ourselves enough to expect nothing less. If you expect less, ask yourself why. You are worth so much more than you know!
I will again leave 1 Corinthians Chapter 13:4-8 and 13, the love chapter, for you to ponder. View your relationships through the lense of this chapter, if things don't add up, it is not love:
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil (abuse) but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Waiting on love,
Elizabeth