Notes from this Episode:

Background

• This podcast is being published during the month of February.  Of course, February is Valentine’s Day month, and suddenly, one day a year, we prioritize our marriage and pay attention to our spouse.

Let’s Look at Love

• The desire of the human heart is to love and to be loved.
• The people who primarily teach us how to love are our parents, grandparents, and maybe aunts and uncles.
• We can look to our family of origin and learn how and how not to love.
  • That may mean rejecting what our parents taught us through their actions and mistakes and choosing instead a different path in the way we love our spouse and children.

Some Considerations

• This is your life now and your family – how do you want to show up in love for your husband and children?
• How do you want to teach your children to love?

The World’s Version of Love

• The world tells us love is personal fulfillment and asks, “What can you give me to make me happy?”
• The world expects us to have a list of needs that must be fulfilled in order to be happy, and if they are not met or we encounter behavior that is unacceptable to us, we can choose not to love that individual.
• The world teaches that love is a momentary pleasure.

God’s Version of Love

• God called you to your husband and children and asks you to love them through your gift of self-sacrifice.
• You are called to love your husband when he needs it, whether in body, mind, or spirit; to love and forgive your husband for your ultimate goal, which is to get each other and your children to heaven.

Forgiveness

• You must learn how to forgive as Christ taught – seventy times seven, which means infinity.
• Does this not bring a new perspective to the anger you feel about silly and serious conflicts that arise?

Learn from God

• People in today’s world do not know how to love because they do not know God.  They do not study or learn from Him.  They do not practice His love or sit in quiet prayer.
• People do not go to prayer and cry, complain, and unload – and then let the Holy Spirit calm, embrace, nurture, teach and give insights.
• The people of the world are so caught up in anger, anxiety, and overwhelm.
  • There is a lack of connection to the anchor of love – God.
• Look to the saints and Our Lady.  They all gave their lives up for their faith.
  • Read the New Testament, put yourself in the scenes and ask the hard questions on how well you die to yourself.

Final Thoughts on Who Taught You How to Love

• Recommit to learning how to love.
  • Stop focusing on how your husband does not show up, and start focusing on you.
• Love is a path that sanctifies – it makes you holy.
  • Love makes us a better human here on earth and sets us on the path to heaven.
• Look to the ultimate teacher of love – Jesus Christ.  Incorporate the faith into your own life in so many different ways and watch how you become a woman who loves deeply.