A love so sweet
"If Gilbert had been asked to describe his ideal woman the description would have answered point for point to Anne, even to those seven tiny freckles whose obnoxious presence still continued to vex her soul. Gilbert was as yet little more than a boy; but a boy has his dreams as have others, and in Gilbert's future there was always a girl with big, limpid gray eyes, and a face as fine and delicate as a flower. He had made up his mind, also, that his future must be worthy of its princess. Even in quiet Avonlea there were temptations to be met and faced. White Sands youth were a rather 'fast' set, and Gilbert was popular wherever he went. But he meant to keep himself worthy of Anne's friendship and perhaps some distant day her love; and he watched over word and thought and deed as jealously as if her clear eyes were to pass in judgment on it. She held over him the unconscious influence that every girl, whose ideals are high and pure, wields long as she was faithful to those ideals and which she would certainly lose if she were ever false to them. In Gilbert's eyes Anne's greatest charm was the fact that she never stooped to the petty practices of so many of the Avonlea girls- the small jealousies, the little deceits and rivalries, the palpable bids for favor. Anne held herself apart from all this, not consciously or of design but simply because anything of the sort was utterly foreign to her transparent, impulsive nature, crystal clear in its motives and aspirations..." ~ Anne of Avonlea
A love that is sweet, is one that makes you sigh in appreciation, that causes your heart to beat a bit faster, and your breath to catch. Such love is born from pure well springs. It is patient and kind, is not envious or prideful, it is not puffed up. It does not behave unseemly nor seek its own, it is not easily provoked and thinks no evil. It rejoices in truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things. It does not fail.
This is the love that is searched for, that is longed for. The world looks in vain and then turns to cheap romances played out on the silver screen and between the pages of trade paperbacks. The media's version of love is filling for the time it lasts on the screen, but it leaves you empty and still searching. When their predictable plots are played out in reality they never end in happily ever after as they advertise but in bitter heart ache and dissatisfaction. What is being peddled in the world today is nothing more then a miserable replica, a hollowed out, self centered version of love.
A love that is sweet, that is lasting, that shines as time goes on is found at the feet Jesus. He is love. And He is everlasting. He calls to His bride saying, 'rise up my fair one and come away. For lo winter is past and spring is come...' His banner over her is love. He has loved His bride even in her filthy and imprisoned state (the penalty for her crimes being death), for while she was still a sinner He gave His life for her, that she might know Him and be made one with Him and LIVE. It is by His blood that she is made clean. He brings her to Himself exchanges her rags of sin for clothing wrought of gold, of righteousness and says, 'Thou art all fair my love, there is no spot in thee... Thou has ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; thous has ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck..." This is a love that is filling! It is selfless and pure. And it is only found in Jesus.
Love that is shared between a husband and a wife is a sweet taste of what is to come. It is a picture of Jesus and His bride. I started out with a passage from Anne of Avonlea that warms my heart because it echos the calls to honor and purity that are so lost in culture today. To keep oneself unspotted from the world, to live above the mediocrity that draws the crowd, to wait for the soft whispers of love to stir your heart. It's the type of love we long for, but cannot get if we are down in the muck and mire of what the world is offering. Do not settle for what will only satisfy for a moment and then leave you, wait for love that lasts. Wait for love that is found in and centered on Jesus! Wait for He will give strength to your heart when you do.
And then one day:
"It was as if a veil that had hung before her inner consciousness had been lifted, giving to her view a revelation of unsuspected feelings and realities. Perhaps, after all, romance did not come into one's life with pomp and blare, like a gay knight riding down; perhaps it crept to one's side like an old friend through quiet ways; perhaps it revealed itself in seeming prose, until some sudden shaft of illumination flung athwart its pages betrayed the rhythm and the music; perhaps ... perhaps... love unfolded naturally out of a beautiful friendship, as a golden hearted rose slipping from its green sheath." ~ Anne of Avonlea.
