Can you think of ten million reasons to love someone?
Yeah, me either. Mostly because it would take too much time to count that high. (Or because I’m too lazy to count that high…but we’ll go with the former!)
I did an exercise one year with my husband, though. Hm. Okay, it wasn’t exactly with him. Maybe for him would be a better way of putting it. I made a list of all the things I respected about the man I was married to. That might not sound like the same thing as love, but I’ve been assured that in man talk it holds as much weight as a why-I-love-you list would hold in woman talk. (Relationships 101: Men and women speak different languages.)
The funny thing?
Once I got started, I almost couldn’t stop. As soon as I made a conscious effort to put my focus on my husband’s positive traits, I kept thinking of others. The list went on for pages. And pages. And pages. (Yeah, I’m that girl who would pass notes 20 pages long in high school history class. Don’t even get me started on how long a note I could write in English class!)
Sometimes it’s simply too easy for us to get distracted by everything we don’t like.
The things he’s said he would do…but then didn’t. The things I need him to do that he knows I need him to do…that he just won’t make time to do. The lunch I packed for him that he didn’t bother to eat. Yet another time he’s been oblivious to my hurt feelings.
That list could probably go on forever, too, if we chose to write it.
If we permit our minds to dwell on all the negative things, our hearts will fill up with disappointment and bitterness. If we train, cajole, or drag kicking and screaming (Hey, we’re all in a different place!) our minds to focus on everything good about our significant others, our hearts will follow.
So where will you allow your mind to go today? Or better yet, where will you take it? Just remember, your heart will follow.
Finding ten million reasons to love someone isn’t exactly the plot of the book below, but it’s still a subject I like to talk about. I hope you spend a little time today thinking about the good in the people you’ve let close to you.
♥ ♥ ♥
Money talks, and the way she spends hers tells him all he needs to know…
Richard needs to find a woman he can trust, and he needs to find her fast. He doesn’t have time to waste on getting to know people, which means dating and interviewing are out of the question. So how can he get past that initial mask of good behavior to learn what people are really like? Easy! Give them ten million dollars and watch to see what they do with it.
Genevieve is a free-lance journalist who talks to herself, constantly forgets to put appointments on her calendar, and can’t go anywhere without being asked to take a survey. Why on earth is Richard interested in her? She doesn’t know it yet, but he has ten million reasons…
Heather Gray loves coffee, God, her family, and laughter – not necessarily in that order! She writes approachable characters who, through the highs and lows of life, find a way to love God, embrace each day, and laugh out loud right along with her. And, yeah, her books almost always have someone who's a coffee addict. Some things just can't be helped. Despite their different lives and situations, Heather’s characters have something in common. They're all flawed...but loved anyway.
Heather, how true. Concentrating on the good stuff is important.
Thank you for visiting today Merrillee! And may you have a blessed week full of focusing-on-the-good! :)
Excellent! If more people looked for the positive in life, I think we would have happier people.
Eight years ago I nearly lost my husband due to 95% blockage of the LAD, also known as the “widow maker.” He had to leave the local hospital and go to Knoxville for a heart cath and had to have 3 stents placed. They told us had he ignored it, he would have been dead within 24 to max of 48 hours. He spent the night in ICU and my sister in law took me to her house. That night, my prayer was only “thank you” that was all I could say to God over and over. We will celebrate 38 years of marriage in October. I am so blessed to be married to a Christian man, we have 3 children and 10 grandchildren. I don’t know if I could come up with ten million reasons to love someone, so I will just take each days blessings one at a time and be grateful.
That’s a beautiful testimony Kathy — thank you for sharing! Sometimes tragedy (or near tragedy) brings us so close to God that we can’t help but see His hand in everything around us. I imagine it is a daily blessing to your husband to know he is so loved by you! :)
LOVE the concept of your book, Heather! That sounds like a great premise. I’m so far from ten million bucks, I have no idea what I’d do with it! (Not that anyone has offered it to me…)
Thank you for visiting Valerie! Some days I’m not even sure I have ten dollars to rub together…which is part of why imaging huge sums of money is fun. I can’t get greedy when I think there’s no hope of it ever happening! Sometimes my husband and I will talk about it. “What if…” Since we have no idea where that what-if would come from, it’s always an entertaining conversation. Where does the money come from, what do we do with it, how does it change us, etc. We have some fun conversation! :)