Emily and Matt

I learned a lot about myself while going through the process of proposing.  I knew she was the one for me, but how did I know?  Was I 100% sure?  They say you just “know” when the other person is the one of your dreams, the one for you, the person you are meant to spend the rest of your life with.  So, before asking her parents for permission, I had to define to myself what love was.

Before I dive into my struggle to find the meaning of love, let me explain why it was so difficult for me.  When Emily and I entered our courtship one of the things we did was set up a list of boundaries.  This would help us stay pure and make sure our relationship wasn’t just about the physical things.  The boundary most relevant to this story is, “We will not use the words ‘I Love You.’”

This may be perplexing to some, but let me explain.  We feel most young people today don’t truly understand the meaning of this phrase and use it excessively.  Even more so, the main reason we followed this rule is that in the case that it didn’t work out between us, we wouldn’t have made the mistake of telling someone we didn’t marry that we loved them.  While that may sound a little trivial, we don’t think it’s right to spend your young life telling 10 different people that you dated for a month that you loved them.  Did you really love them?  Doubtful.

Back to the point in hand, I had never told Emily I loved her.  So, leading up to the proposal, as I was about to tell her I loved her for the first time, I needed to make sure I did and to define to myself what it was.  I google searched it, looked it up on wikipedia, dissected the different versions of love from the Bible, and more.  I discussed it with my coworker, who asked me if we had common interests (check), if I’d be happy spending the rest of my life with her (check), and more (check). 

When I think about how I want to love her and treat her, I think of God’s love for us and the way Jesus treated people.  His love is unconditional.  It’s hard to wrap our minds around the idea, but no matter what we do, He will ALWAYS love us.  That’s hard to replicate, but I will try my best.  And every day I spend with her it becomes more and more clear that she is the one for me!  I love her!