one day closer

I feel like I haven't been here in a while; the laptop refuses to load this page properly, so I've resorted to the clunky old family desktop.

Spring is slowly springing, Andrew was here this weekend (and will be back again on Thursday to begin his spring break), my birthday is soon, we picked up wedding invitations today, and I wore my Chacos this evening! What a joyful list!

With the days becoming warmer (excepting the current cold snap), my wedding seems alarmingly near. On the days that were still obviously winter, June is far away. But now it's March, and June 25 is relatively soon. Frightening, exhilerating, stressful, and wonderful. Preparations for the actual celebration need finishing, as well as preparations for marriage counseling. I know that I won't ever be really prepared to be married, but I pray that we will both be as prepared as we can be. Just reading through our list of questions for counseling is daunting, and answering them is more so. I can understand why the culture finds the idea of co-habitation so appealing: the pleasures of living together without the inconveniences, stresses, or obligations of marriage.

Andrew and I listened to a sermon today (I wish I could remember who it was. John somebody, I think) about love. He said that humans define love by the object's value to us. We say things like "I love chocolate pudding," meaning that chocolate pudding is useful/pleasureable to me. We treat one another this way as well, whether we intend to or not. We love our parents, and why wouldn't we? They take care of us, buy us things, feed us, pamper us. But love, he goes on to say, or perhaps even better as the New King James says, charity, defines love "in relationship to the object's need." (I hope I'm quoting him correctly.) It is this way that God loves. Of course we love Him in our way -- He gives us all things! Yet He loves because of our great need, and in our great need. God loved us, so He gave. That's it. He loved, so He gave. And He gave what we most needed. He gave a Savior, a freedom from the slavery of our sin.

I need to love Andrew like this. I need him to love me like this: at the place of need.

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In other news, what kind of dessert do I want for my birthday next week?