I snagged this painting off a friend’s page the other day because it blessed my heart! I would entitle it “Decade Defying Love.” So many different stages our love goes through in the course of our lives together. Passionate romance. Dreaming together. The joys (and pains) of parenting. Creating the dance steps of shared responsibilities. Shedding off demands and expectations to embrace what is. Accepting aging bodies… and minds. Realizing love is more than passion. Choosing to nurture that emerging version of love. Deep comfort in that commitment. 

Each transition challenges our view of love, and whether we weather that change depends on how rigidly we cling to the previous stage. Love at its finest is selfless commitment to the other and the “us.” All the rest is fluff… fulfilling but still fluff. These two, reminiscing about their days of passion, have successfully navigated these decade challenges to their love. They are my heroes! God, continue to bless Ed and I with this kind of malleable, decade defying love.