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what matters most
My current girlfriend
Fellow YFCers,
Valentine's Day is just around the corner and it's the time of year to
send out those mooshie cards and chocolate cupids filled with yummy
goodness, right? But is this the real meaning of Valentines Day? I come to
think of how many Valentine's Days I've been through with my current
girlfriend and it looks like the number stands at this Valentine's Day
being the fifth one! Yeah, yeah I know... five years of being together
with the same person seems a bit long... okay... maybe REAL long, but it's
not that bad. It just takes love, compassion, and most importantly the
Lord.
I remember when I first saw her... I sweated her soooooo bad! She was
just so... *ahem*... FOINE!! This was a year before I really got to meet her
but things started rolling in 9th grade. As soon as we got to know each
other, her personality really shined through as well as everything
else. So, time passed and our feelings got alot stronger and we started
"going steady" ( in "Saved By the Bell" terms). The biggest thing I liked
about her was that her relationship with the Lord was very strong. She
knew so much about the bible and other things. Everything was fine and
dandy until five months of being together and more than a year of knowing
each other... out of no where... I asked, "What church do you go to?" and
she replied "Why?"... I answered "I just wanted to know... I never asked
before."
With all the surprises in the whole wide world... she replied, "Well... I
go to a Baptist church."
As I thought of what she said I started to get sad. The whole question
of what if I want to settle down with her surfaced. What religion will our kids be? I know
we were young but I really, really, really... really liked her! To the
point when I started to admit I LOVED her. We sat down and talked about
certain things we've never talked about dealing with our religions and
beliefs. We argued for a while... and argued a little bit more... and
finally we came to a decision, we were gonna split up. I mean... this didn't
take like 30 minutes! It was a couple of stressful weeks.
By this time... I felt like love was stronger than religion... but I know then that's
false. I went to priests and she went to pastors for greater help
on the situation and they all didn't really know how to answer our
questions. Certain things like her not believing in the Rosary or me not
believing in "being saved."
It finally boiled down to the "Lord" part in having a relationship. We
just lifted our situation up to God and our problems were pretty
much solved.
We figured that it really doesn't matter what religion you are, it just
matters how your relationship is with the Lord. I mean, we weren't
a bad couple... we seldomly fought and in reality she enlightened me on
so many things about God... so it was actually good! There was no way I
was gonna let such a treasure go because of one technicallity we were
born into... our religions.
We're both 18 now, going onto 19. Both of us are growing in love more and
more each day. We always strive to learn about each other's religion and
try to understand the differences. Sometimes you learn a lot more that
way too! But most of all, lifting our love up to God and including
Him in our relationship has helped us out the most.
Now I think of it... this fifth Valentine's Day with my girlfriend wouldn't
be possible if it weren't for God. Maybe that is the true meaning
Valentine's Day... NOT the mooshie cards or the chocolate cupids filled
with yummy goodness... but It's about your loved ones and especially the
LORD and how much He loves each and every one of us. So, have a safe and
happy Valentine's Day and bear in mind God's love as well as your
companion's love... I know I will!! =)
GREETINGS FROM JACKSONVILLE YFC!!! WOOHOOO FIRST CAMP!! heehee =)
Joseph A. Alvaro
Jacksonville, Florida
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