I’m ready to come out of the closet.
I am an unabashed, album-carrying member of the Karen Carpenter fan club, and I have been since the mid 1970s. There, I said it. Every time Karen opened her mouth, it was like honey poured onto a hot biscuit. The music she produced during her short life lives on in those who will never forget her rich voice. Sadly, Karen never experienced the love she sang about.
Love is a difficult creature to find, much less to trap. Tracking this elusive prey is challenging. Hollywood’s version of love is a grand illusion built upon a house of cards. Emotions are the caboose on the train, not its engine. There is a source more reliable than feelings, emotions, and moods.
In Proverbs, love is described as a fountain—but only after three other sources of water are mentioned. A cistern is nothing more than a hole in the ground for the purpose of collecting rainwater. Wells must be dug (notice the hard work involved). Springs bubble out of the earth.
The writer pronounces the blessedness of the fountain. A man should rejoice in the wife of his youth. He is older now. The varying depths of each water source and the sequential order involved in the building of a love relationship are important facts. Love never begins with a fountain relationship, but with a rudimentary hole in the ground called a cistern.
Karen and I have been married thirty six years. Although we have gotten to the point where we are enjoying a fountain-like experience, there are still days when I find myself digging in the dirt to collect rainwater.
As a couple, stay in the fight. You are sharing life together, and it gets messy. Keep your sense of humor and enjoy the mess together. Get your shovel out and dig for water. Love will grow.
(Photo courtesy of pixabay.)
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Mike is a pastor, author, and seminar speaker. He is the president of Green Life Now Ministries, which offers seminars to churches and civic groups on the topics of marriage and parenting. He is the author of The Well; Journey to Charis. Mike and his wife Karen reside in Callahan, Florida.