Exemplary Love

Family has been on my mind for the last day or so, largely due to a post by Tamara Johnston. She is a writer, wife and mother of five young children. If you haven't seen her blog yet, please take a look.

I got to know Tamara and her husband Brian through their wonderful children. As I look toward starting my own family, I think of theirs and others with joy and expectation. There is so much life in a family, and I can not wait to begin a new one with my fiancee, Amber. Excited, I am. Terrified, indeed. What a sobering thought! Maintaining a healthy marriage is extremely difficult (people tell me that a lot, and America's divorce rates validate their claims). Raising children at the same time...I can't even imagine. I don't even have the "healthy engagement" part down. The whole package is just mind blowing, and it seems impossible. But my parents did it, and so did Amber's. I think back to my childhood and remember that, above all, I never wondered if my parents loved me. I look at the families I am blessed to know well (the Johnstons, Hamersmas, Pendleys, Gregorys, etc.), and I see the same thing. This exemplary love is fundamental to life as it was intended but apparently lacking in our culture. I hope to join the ranks of people loving their spouses and children selflessly and unconditionally, no matter how hard it ends up being over time, and no matter how unattractive it seems. Thank you for giving me a new way to think about it, Tamara.

What motivates the love we are talking about? Read about it here.