Heart Catcher

"Many things will catch your attention but only a few will capture your heart, pursue those," says one of my favorite quotes which encourages me to pursue the dreams God has placed in my heart. I wondered if this principle could also be applied to finding a partner in life.

Tweaking it a little, I thought about how "many people will catch our attention, but only a few will capture our hearts," but as I thought about it further I realized that we don't really need many people, not even a few, but only one who will accept us completely, unconditionally.

I believe that if we find the person with whom we can be truly ourselves with then we have found a treasure.

Relationships work best when we enter it because we want to share of ourselves, not because we want someone to fill a need. Only God can fill the cracks in our hearts. It is he who heals us and the love that comes from him is what we share. We enter a relationship to give and not to take. If the other person gives back, it is a wonderful gift that we receive with a grateful heart.

When we enter a commitment, we  must ask ourselves instead: How can I make this person happy?  How can I help this person be the best that he or she can be? How can I help him or her to be truly alive?

For me that is true love. The kind of love that reflects the love of God.

On another note, I have heard people say that there are two important things that require careful and thoughtful decision-making:

1.What we do with our lives (our mission), 2. Whom to spend it with (our life partner). It is true we should spend more time on decisions that are irreversible than those that can easily be changed.

Imagine this: your happiness or misery depends on the decision you make about what you choose to do and whom you spend your life with. It's a decision that requires careful reflection and prayer, before a leap of faith is taken. I remember a friend saying, "I'd rather be happy alone than miserable with someone."

That thought chipped the ice on my otherwise  stubborn heart. There is a question that can prevent unnecessary pain in this area of choosing a partner: Can I see myself spending a lifetime with this person?

Can he/she be a partner in my mission, in fulfilling my purpose in life?

Will I be able to support him in his?

If there should be any doubt, one should take a step back and listen. It is better to be safe than sorry your whole life. I've seen so many relationships broken because they did not spend enough time praying about such a life-changing decision.  Some relationships suck the life out of you that it hurts and leaves you in pieces afterwards. Relationships should be life-giving and helps your partner become the best that God created them to be.

A relationship focused on caring and sharing is the key to happiness. May we all out-give each other in love.