Laboring Love

   I've been learning a lot lately through this long distance relationship I am currently in. We started dating back in June of this year so we had all summer together, working hard together and just being able to have fun as well. We knew that the day would come when we would have to work on this relationship apart from each other because of him going back to college and you know how everyone says that long distance relationships never work, well I think I'm learning why they don't.
   Being apart from my boyfriend has obviously been terribly hard. He's such a great person that I would be weird if it wasn't hard for me, but this season has definitely not been without its struggles beyond just the space between us. I've fought the thought of "is this even worth it?" so many times. I mean, the point of being in a relationship is so you can be with the person, right? No, actually thats not it at all. Love is totally a choice. I have to choose to continue to love him every single day. This is hard and I could chose to give up but what are my reasons for wanting to give up? If I sit back and evaluate them, they are always selfish ones. 1 Corinthians 13 tells me that LOVE is not selfish so obviously if I end the relationship based on my selfishness, that isn't out of love. So what is love in this situation? Love is labor! It's working hard at it everyday and making the choice to say, "I love you for who you are not what I can get from you". If your only reason for being in a relationship is for what you can get out of it, then you will have a very selfish marriage. By learning to put away my selfish desires now (and I'm not just talking about physical crap) I'm preparing myself to continue in this relationship self-less. And even if it ends, I have learned the valuable lesson of how self-less love is hard work and that will help me in all my relationships.
  I was contemplating all this last night when God reminded me of a quote and it pretty much sums up this season for me and my wonderful boyfriend:

"Everybody's promise has at least one giant strategically placed there by God. David killed his giant with a rock but from then on he fought with Goliath's sword. What was meant to destroy you will become your greatest strength."


We can let this distance destroy us, or we can let it be a valuable lesson which will become our greatest weapon later on in life. It's hard, but it's worth it. Jesus gave up his life because of love, I can give up a couple months of him not being around. People try to tell me this isn't worth it, but God has taught me so much through it that I believe it's more then worth it.