It's Spring and love is in the air!

Right now I am having such a wonderful time providing pre-martial counseling to one of the cutest couple on earth. I was honored when they ask if I would join in their marriage process. It's been an absolute joy. I am undoubtedly a hopeful romantic, and I am also an absolute believer in the power of love. I know that it is the most powerful force in the universe.

However, romance and love are two very different thngs. I have seen too many couples plan a ceremony, but fail to plan a life together. What is so refreshing about the couple I'm counseling is that they are truly working on planning a life together. They are doing the hard work and not relying solely on romantic love that comes and goes with feelings and emotions. They are working on nourishing and developing the understanding that love is not a feeling, it is an action. It is the action of service.

When I think of love as service, I think of the movie 'Coming to America'. When Eddie Murphy's character, the heir apparent of Zumunda, was introduced to his would-be wife, and she keeps bowing and saying, "whatever you like." The scene ends with her barking like a dog and hopping on one foot. It is too funny! Candidly, I can't help but think love as an act of service is kind of like that scene. Of course not that ridiculous, but love as an act of service is selfless. In entering into a committed arrangement, if both individuals decide to frame their love in the terms of actions, the process of becoming a loving partnership would be one of the strongest, unbreakable bonds.

These are the relationships that nourish, heal, and restore not only the two that are in the relationship, but that illuminate and bring joy to everyone around the couple. This is the bond that demonstrates the power of love. - The strongest force in the universe.