When I was single, I had a love-hate relationship with Valentine’s Day. I hated it because it poked its figurative finger in my face from the day after New Year’s until February 15th. Love stinks, I thought.
But I loved the holiday, too, mostly because I consumed a steady diet of romantic comedies throughout the year. Some of these movies assured me that fat or skinny, ugly or pretty, there was someone, somewhere who would love me. When we finally shared our first kiss, music would begin to play out of nowhere, and fireworks would explode in the sky above us. Yeah, love stinks, I thought.
Imagine my surprise when true love did come calling. That first kiss with my husband didn’t end in fireworks, but it felt more amazing than anything I could have imagined — all cinematic first kisses paled in comparison. Still, the real-life relationship that accompanied true love wasn’t exactly what I had come to expect from watching a lifetime of Lifetime Television. Does true love stink?
If the promise of romance on Valentine’s Day has left you in a slump, grab yourself a Whitman’s Sampler and enjoy my top three completely ridiculous movie quotes about love — and be encouraged, because true love does exist!
- “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” This quote from Love Story, has been burned into my brain since the first time I saw it as a teen. Perhaps movie love means never having to say you’re sorry, but real-life love, at least when it involves two very real and imperfect partners, requires almost constant apologies. Here is a list of things I’ve felt the need to apologize to my husband for JUST TODAY:
I’m sorry I ate the entire box of chocolates you gave me for our anniversary YESTERDAY.
I’m sorry I accepted a meeting invite on the night of our fifth anniversary.
I’m sorry I wrecked the budget. I just couldn’t resist those shoes.
I like to think these apologies are proof that while I may be perfectly imperfect, I am humble in my love for my husband, but no matter how hard I try, I keep making mistakes.
Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
God will never apologize to me because #1 He doesn’t forget plans or horde all of the chocolates. In a stunning display of sacrificial love, God allowed His perfect Son, Jesus, to die on the cross for my sins.
- “I like you very much, just as you are.” I confess that in my single days, I watched Bridget Jones Diary at least a hundred times, and this was my favorite part of the movie. I yearned for a man to love me the way Mark Darcy adored Bridget Jones. We know from Bridget Jones Diary 2 that while Mark is a great guy, he and Bridget just couldn’t make it work.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 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 wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Honestly, no man on earth, even my almost perfect husband, can live up to the perfect love described in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. When I was in high school, I took a Christian Living class where we were taught to analyze a relationship by putting our significant other’s name in the place of love in these verses. As a married woman, I now place my own name in that space, and I wonder how my husband can bear me. Compared to Jesus, the perfect example of love, we all fall short.
- “I’ll never let go, Jack. I promise.” When Rose said this to Jack as they were floating in ice-cold water in the movie, Titanic, he was already dead. Her promise was certainly figurative. She does, in fact, let go of his frozen hand. Romantic love makes and breaks many promises.
Isaiah 54:10 “…though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you.
The water was freezing when Rose let go of her true love. Imagine God holding tightly to us, even when the mountains are shaking, and hills are crumbling into the sea. Nothing can separate us from God. We can count on His promises.
If you don’t have the romantic love you’ve hoped for, trust that God loves you and has a plan for you. And if you are with your “perfect” match, but matched life isn’t anything like a romantic comedy, don’t worry! God keeps His promises, and His love for you is perfect.
Julie Christian is a regular contributor to Inspire a Fire.
