Tonight I walked through Target hand in hand with my fiancé
Taylor, tissue paper for my bridal party gifts, and a Starbucks caramel Frappuccino.
This probably sounds like a typical Tuesday errand night to a lot of people,
but as Taylor & I walked aimlessly through the aisles laughing at things
for sale and talking about our dreams of our future home together, my thoughts kept
circling back to a very similar night about a year ago. That is when the
realization hit me. God taught me about
love through a walk around Target and a Starbucks cup.
Since I realize this connection doesn’t make much sense, let
me back track a little bit and tell you about Taylor. Taylor is the most
wonderful human being I have ever met. After years of telling my family and
friends that the right guy would have to “step it up” and “pursue me” because I
wasn’t about to change who I was and become some flirty, bold girl that I’m not
– Taylor was that guy. He asked me to go on a date. Not to hang out at a bar.
Not to chill and watch a movie. But take me on a real date, where we were able
to talk to each other and get to know each other’s personalities, goals,
careers, families and values. Did I also mention he drove 45 minutes to my parents’
house to pick me up?
One of our early dates consisted of going to Target, getting
Starbucks, and walking around. This was about a week after our first date. That
week in between was full of late night phone calls and being thankful for
coffee at work, since we spent more time on the phone than sleeping. After all
that time spent talking, during our three
hour walk around Target Taylor didn’t hold my hand. He didn’t kiss me when
he said goodbye. And this is when I realized that God was teaching me about
love the way He intended for it to be, before our “Swipe Right” world perverted
one of God’s most beautiful gifts to us on this Earth. Taylor purposefully
chose to treat me like this. Not because he didn’t like me, but because he
respected me. Because he saw me as a daughter of God before he saw me as an
object of his affection. Because he valued a relationship with my soul more
than he valued knowing my body.
“Love is patient and
kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude, it does not
insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at
wrong doing, bur rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all
things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.” 1 Corinthians
13: 4-7
When I look at the most well-known verse on love in the
Bible, I see it so beautifully illustrated in the early days of Taylor & I’s
dating relationship. Taylor & I were patient and took time to get to know
each other’s souls, not each other’s bodies. He never had an attitude of
arrogance or expectation, but an attitude of respect, chivalry, and servitude.
We took the time to talk about what we felt like God’s way of dating was, not
our own ways as humans.
I knew that I was in love with Taylor before he ever kissed
me. 4 months later he got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife. The
foundation we established early on is the love we learned from God that bears
the trials we face in life, believes in the perfect plans the Lord has for us,
remains hopeful in this crazy world, and endures throughout our entire lives.
As Taylor & I finished up our trip tonight, God
just really put it on my heart to share this little story. My prayer is that maybe
someone reads it and it speaks to them personally. That the girl wondering if
and when God is ever going to write their love story is encouraged that waiting
for a man who is going to love them the way God intends is so incredibly worth
it. That the guy wondering how to even go about pursuing a girl in our society is reminded that doing it right is meaningful and glorifies the Lord. And that just
maybe, someone who doesn’t know Jesus as their Savior realizes that the
greatest love story was already written many, many years ago on a Cross. We
love only because of the tremendous love He has for us.
