Return to Sender (Day 22 Dare)

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Return to Sender (Day 22 Dare)

January 28, 2010 by Laura

If you send a letter to someone who has moved with no forwarding address, you may receive it back marked, “Return to Sender.” (For those of you who have never sent a letter via the U.S. Postal Service, it’s like an e-mail, but written on real paper, with a real pen, and hand-delivered by the mail carrier, a real person. I know. It’s kinda crazy. )

Today’s K-LOVE Love Dare challenge asks the question:

So if love is what we were created to share (Luke 10:27; Ephesians 3:17), what do you do when your love is rejected? How do you handle it when the one to whom you’ve pledged your life stops accepting the love you’re called to give?

Jesus called us to:

“Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you” (Luke 6:27-28).

Not easy medicine to take, is it? Here’s some insight as to how this might be at work in our marriages:

From the vantage point of the wedding altar, you would never have dreamed that the person you married might later become to you a kind of ‘enemy,’ one you would need to love as an act of almost total sacrifice. And yet far too often in marriage, the relationship does indeed dwindle down to that level. Even to the point of betrayal or, sadly, to unfaithfulness.

For many, this is the beginning of the end. Some respond by rapidly moving toward a tragic divorce. Others, more protective of their reputation than even their own happiness, decide to keep the charade going. But they have no intention of liking it - much less of loving each other again.

Today’s dare: Love is a choice, not a feeling. It is an initiated action, not a knee-jerk reaction. Choose today to be committed to love even if your spouse has lost most of their interest in receiving it. Say to them today in words similar to these, ‘I love you. Period. I choose to love you even if you don’t love me in return.’

It’s our job to love our spouse whether that love is “returned to sender” or not. Whether it’s easy or not. But, you may be surprised. By showing unconditional love, the love in your marriage may just grow and blossom, and return to what it once was.

Image credit: Wikipedia Commons