I was driving down the road one evening when I heard an old Motown tune playing on the radio.  The singer was crooning, “Baby I’m in love with you”.  It made me think about the people and things that I love and later that night before going to sleep, I told David, “Honey, I don’t just love you, I’m in love with you.”

The next morning, I read this quote in a card:  “Being in love is a wonderful thing.”

I thought, “Okay Lord, You’ve got my attention.  What are trying to say to me about the difference between loving something and being in love?”

I love music and reading and hiking and beautiful autumn days when a lovely cerulean sky is the backdrop for colors that artists only wish they could produce on canvas…I love my mother’s eight-layer chocolate cake and my mother-in-law’s chicken pot pie…I love to hear the laughter of my grandbabies and holding them close to my heart…

The things I love often provoke a physical/emotional response, but being in love with someone transcends the natural realm.  “God is love” (1 John 4:8), so being “in love” is a spiritual issue and demands a response that goes beyond our feelings.  It is based on giving, not getting. (John 3:16)  It requires sacrifice and service above and beyond the call of duty. (1 Corinthians 13: 4-8a)  But Love is the very expression of God and has no expiration date! (1 Corinthians 13:13)

Oh yes, being in love is a wonderful thing.

May your hearts be filled with His love for those you are in love with today.