Yesterday, I decided to accept The Love Dare. In honor of Valentine's Day and in recognition of the perfect time to start, I decided to complete each love dare starting February the 7th and ending on March 18th. In order to recognize how the dare is affecting my marriage and love, I will journal my progress day to day on this blog.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with this dare, The Love Dare is a 40 day dare to unconditionally love your spouse expecting nothing in return. Also, the book was featured in the movie Fireproof with actor Kirk Cameron who is most known from his television days playing in Growing Paints. Each day the book presents a new challenge for loving your spouse.
For as long as possible, I plan to keep my dare a secret from my husband, James. Without revealing why I am acting and reacting differently, I will go through each day and watch what happens when I actively seek to show love to my husband. I plan to take it one day at a time. I may not be able to commit to tomorrow's dare today, but I might do a decent job at handling it tomorrow.
While I have to make the decision to do this dare, God is my ultimate strength throughout this time. If I pretend that I am strong enough and good enough to do this all on my own, I will fail. God is love, and this is a love dare. I am reminded of I Corinthians 13:1-3,
"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing."
This dare is to gain something, it is to gain love. As it stands, my marriage can be considered a good marriage, but a marriage is not a thing that you have it is a thing you do. I am a part of a marriage, a member of a two person team. If I want to make my marriage better then I have to be active in my pursuit of the glue that keeps a marriage one. That glue is love. Because I prize my partnership, my marriage, I accept the dare to love for Valentine's Day, 2011.
If you want more information on The Love Dare, check out these links and consider taking this challenge with me. God can and will work in our marriages when we seek his love.
The Love Dare
The Love Dare on Amazon
Fireproof My Marriage
Fireproof
Fireproof on Amazon
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