Chick Flicks...

mess with a girl's heart! I'm just saying...typically I'm a pretty level-headed realistic girl. But chick flicks bring out the hopeless romantic in me and they totally make me wish for lots of things, that I typically/realistically don't think I need. I think if girl's didn't watch chick flicks, we as a population, might be way better off. In chick flicks, everything ends perfectly and the boy and girl always come together in the end...in real life it just doesn't seem to quite always happen that way.

As girls we watch these movies and keep hoping and wishing for all our dreams to come true and then when they don't happen the way we think they should (based on these movies) we think it must not have really been love. The boy must not really love us.

Love is hard and these movies don't seem to get at that. All of the people are pretty and happy and even when there is adversity, it's always easily overcome. You rarely see the movie where two people love each other, not simply because the other one is super hot, but because they generally desire the greatest good for the other. They trivialize love and we watch these movies and do the same thing.

I think that's why there are so many divorces today. The picture of love we have is this picture perfect one and so when the daily grind of living with someone else in today's world gets to us and our beloved doesn't act in the picture perfect way, we want out. Our first response is to think of ourselves and why we aren't happy, rather than thinking of the other, concerning ourselves with their feelings, their needs, their wants.

Maybe I'm way too idealistic, but it just seems that if one of my priorities was meeting the needs of my loved one and their priority was the same, then both of our needs would actually be met. We wouldn't have to worry that our needs wouldn't be met. I think this same principle holds true for the church and is what God has called us to. We are called to look to the other, to bear their burdens, to love them like Christ loves us. If we were each intentional about doing this for each other, imagine what could happen in the world. Imagine the conflicts that could be resolved, the peace that could come, the reconciliation that could finally occur. Thinking about someone else before yourself!? what a concept!?

It seems like a difficult and daunting task, but I feel like I'm up for the challenge. Are you?