Labor Day!!!

It's Labor Day!!! And I've been thinking about something... the labor of Love.

As William Shakespeare wrote in A Midsummer Night's Dream, "The course of true love never did run smooth"

What is love worth? What would you give up for love? If you refuse to give up something for love, aren't you saying that thing holds more value to you than love? What could be worth more than love?! In faith there are negotiables and non-negotiables. In my life, I feel that going to Africa is a non-negotiable while going to graduate school is negotiable. Yet I have a few dear friends that find this troubling. How could I give up my dreams "for a guy"?! I get this reaction, ironically, from more men that women, but also from Christian men. Shouldn't it be the other way around? Especially when you consider how the sexes were created for different purposes. If you believe that God created the Heavens and the Earth, and believe that Christ came to atone our sins, how can you ignore the fact that God created us for different purposes? Adam was created first, to tend and take care of the Earth. Eve was created second, to be a partner for Adam and to produce life.

Why is it that this view of love and marriage has infiltrated Christian society? The stereotypes of people going to college just to find a spouse. At the local college, there are what we call "Cru couples". Young men and women who met through the local Campus Crusade for Christ organization. The stereotype has garnered some negative connotations because otherwise motivated people appear to give up their dreams and instead seek only marriage and babies. Okay, admittedly, there are few things that I find more obnoxious than being in a room full of Cru couples. That is not to say that being one of these couples is a bad thing. Cru couples are generally people who previously had such lofty goals in life that they seemingly throw aside, and instead focus on God's role in their love story and living their lives to glorify Him. This should be a good, celebrated thing. But to single individuals looking from the outside in, it is viewed often as a form of torture. And "how dare they throw away their plans to live for God and just move to Philadelphia and have babies!" [Actual quote I was told in reference to one such couple.] Just because people that had loftier goals to glorify God fell in love, and found more humble ways to glorify God, does that negate the fact that they are still glorifying God? Should they be grieved for the sacrificies they have chosen to make? Christ sacrificed His life for us. The disciples sacrificed their families, their homes and their ways of life to follow, and ultimately spread, the word of Christ. How on earth did sacrificing our perceived dreams garner itself such a negative reputation? If we believe that God has a plan for our lives - including things beyond what we can imagine - how then can we assume that people are settling when they believe they are following God's will.

And in our countries current state, can a job be considered to be more important than love? A job that could be taken away at any moment because of an unstable economy. Whereas love, that is right and true, is lasting. Even when our loved are no longer with us, it does not diminish our love for them, or our capacity to love. Our job, however, may slowly diminish our ability to recognize and celebrate love. A parasite thriving off our unhappiness. A co-worker we disagree with. Staff meetings. The dull-drum of constant, persistent work without appreciation of life's small joys.

Isn't love worth more than that?