Love Is... | an 8-Day Plan by Doxa DeoSample

Love is Caring

Love is Caring. Our very first need in life, was that someone would love us enough to take care of us. Every marriage still has this need that we would care for one another. I need someone to care for me and I need somebody to take care of. 2 Corinthians 1:3 says "All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort."

He comforts us in our troubles, so that we can comfort one another with the comfort that we have received from Him. We discover two concepts in this scripture that define the quality of care that I want to bring to my marriage. The first one is compassion.

Compassion is when I love you so deeply that I will connect with the emotional experiences of your life. Connecting with your heart. Compassion feels the excitement of my life-long partner, it feels the joy. It also feels the despair, the hurt and sometimes the frustrations. Compassion means that I share in the experiences of your heart. 

The second word is comfort. Comfort means to stand alongside someone. To stand next to somebody and to support them. To make them stronger than they would have been on their own. Comfort simply asks the question everyday: "How can I help you?" Compassion is to feel what you feel, and comfort is to help and support.

We will obviously make mistakes and will make withdrawals from each other’s bank accounts. That is inevitable. But I want to make a daily decision to make deposits into our love so that our relationship will remain healthy and alive. If I deposit more than all the mistakes I make (withdrawals), that will define the quality of our relationship and that is how we care for one another. 

Discussion: What is it that your spouse deposits into your emotional bank account? Put it into a positive statement and share it with one another. Something like: "You deposit into my emotional bank account when you…"

Prayer: Thank you Father of compassion and God of comfort that you empower us to do the same for each other. Please help us to care for one another and please fill our home with your grace. Amen