No Such Thing As Soul Mates

"In the beginning of creation God made them male and female, and because of this, man has to leave father and mother and be joined to this wife, and the two shall become one body. So they are no longer two but one body. Therefore let no one separate what God has joined." - Mark 10:6-9

I really hate it when people use the term "soul mate." To me, it means that two people match each other perfectly, never argue, and are always considerate and caring with each other. Unfortunately, this doesn't exist. Real love is about unconditional love that accepts the ugly as openly as it accepts the good. Soul mates don't exist because human beings have to put real effort into relationships, giving of ourselves completely in order to forget about self and attend to the needs of another. Many marriages fail because people become consumed with being happy and being understood by their partner, when Christ taught us that happiness comes from serving and understanding the other. Jesus is the perfect example of this type of love. He never asked if we loved Him in return, He never asked us to pay Him more attention, He never asked us to change anything or to do more for Him, instead, He gave up everything to the point of death, putting Himself last and the needs of His beloved first. Jesus showed His love with blood, sweat, and tears, not with I love you's and butterflies in His stomach. He was killed and He still loves us, He was betrayed and He still loves us. He gives and gives and gives and recieves very little back, but He still loves us and isn't going anywhere.

My parents have been married for 28 years. What I've learned from them is that a real relationship is a lot of work; it doesn't come easy at all. They didn't teach me this with words, but I've seen them as they sacrifice themselves for the other, going that extra mile after a long day, and forgiving and accepting the other through disagreements. Sometimes things don't get resolved, but they remain dedicated to the other. I believe that in order to do this, we must have Jesus in our lives to learn from Him about choosing forgiveness and mercy over what's in it for ourselves, and in this way, we can move from a selfish love to an unconditional, life-long love.

Today's Prayer:
Lord Jesus, You showed us what it really means to love, to deny what we want in order to serve the one we love. Give me strength in order to see that the purest happiness is to see the one we love happy. Allow me to follow Your example always. In Your Name we pray, amen.