Thursday, December 18, 2014

For the Courageous and Humble

After my first two jam-packed weeks of December, this week came like a rest week for me. :) I should really be resting now since I got a stiff neck... :( Never thought that having this was pretty hard-- when I look up, down, left, right... Or just have a simple sneeze, there's pain in the neck. Ouch. :(

Since it's pretty hard to move or do something really physical (but still thank God I got to do some of my laundry), I got more time to do some contemplating about the weeks that passed, some reading and writing. Activities that you don't need to move much haha!

And also I still have my hangover from these weddings and got some revelations about love in the context of a husband and wife (told ya, I still have my hangover!). :)

I heard from many people (mostly men), that love is only for the courageous. A man needs to be courageous when he lays his intentions of pursuing the woman that he loves. A woman needs courage to say "Yes" to the man and be completely vulnerable before him. A couple needs courage to face challenges together as a team and not anymore as individuals. And the list goes on. It's like embedded on my mind that if you want love, you got to be courageous.

One of my favorite shots from the #MikLang wedding :)

But God somewhat revealed to me, through these weddings that I have recently been to and through some conversations and observations from the couples that I know-- that if you want love (or you want somebody to love and be with that person for the rest of your life) you got to have not just courage but also humility. :)

People tend to just focus on the "sugar and spice and everything nice" when entering marriage that they almost neglect this part of the reality that marriage is also hard work and the wedding is not an ending but only a beginning (I was never married though, but most of the married couples that I know usually say this, or at least that's the idea when they relate some of their husband-wife stories).

"Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Saviour. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church..." -Ephesians 5:22-29
It's a commitment to forevah! (Image from fashionplaceface.com)

Marrying someone comes with a string of commitments...

Commitment of service
Commitment of sacrifice
Commitment of submission

Commitment of purity
Commitment of pursuit
Commitment of purpose

If we are not humble enough, we will not be able to do these. God's grace is needed, and God gives grace to the humble.

We need humility to serve, whenever we do our sacrifices, whenever we submit to God and also for us ladies, to our husbands. We have to have it to keep our purity, to keep pursuing the one you love and to continue to live under God's purpose (this is intertwined with our commitment to submit to God). And yes, I think we got to also have courage to swallow up our pride and be humble. That we are not always strong and not always right. Be brave and humble to know and accept that we have imperfections too, that we are not perfect, so we won't be hard on other's failings.

Just like Jesus, who showed our love for us when He humbled Himself. God became human and made His dwellings among us. He's been so humble that He chose to die a shameful death on the cross just to prove His love for us. And He was also courageous when He chose to do that. He was courageous AND humble.

Love is then, not just for the courageous... It's for the courageous and humble. ♥

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