Love Wins Out

There was a time in my life when I wanted to be a wedding officiant. I’m serious! I went online and got ordained. You can call me Reverend Bertrand if you’d like (smile). I set up a website where people could sign up for me to officiate their wedding, I started blogging about weddings. I even have a dress (uniform) that I would wear to conduct weddings. Friends, I went the whole nine yards for this wedding officiant endeavor.

There is something about weddings that fascinate me. And, no matter whose wedding it is, at the moment the bride and groom begin to say their vows, I begin to cry. I wondered how awkward it would be for me to preside over a wedding and then all of a sudden break out sobbing. It always happens during wedding vows. As I analyze it, thinking out loud, I realize there is something about the sacredness of committing oneself to another that gets deep inside my soul to a level that breaks me apart in a way I simply cannot control.
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Commitment to Love
We commit to a lot of things in life. We commit to our jobs. We commit to projects, family, friends, and a whole slew of things in life. But, when we commit to love, I mean, when we truly commit to loving, then we commit to the greatest element on earth.
Our Creator says this in 1 Corinthians 13:13.

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 
​--1 Corinthians 13:13

Love Wins Out
Sometimes, we lose ourselves to love. In fact, when we truly love someone, we lose ourselves in love. I ask now, “What is it that you would not do for love?” I know people who have done the craziest things for love. Yet, I don’t judge what people do for love, because I know that love can be overwhelming and love can cause a person to do things they never imagined they would do otherwise.
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Our Creator created us to love. He created us to love one another and so by the very essence of our being, love always wins out. You can run from love, but in the end, love will find you and engulf you and when that happens, while you can deny it to the world, you cannot deny it to yourself.

I want to point out that I am not talking about the love of things. I am only talking about the love of people.
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Think about the love a mother has for her child. From the moment that child is born (and often before then), there is nothing in the world that a mother would not do for her child. This kind of love makes them inseparable. It’s kind of like the love our Heavenly Father has for us.

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. --1 John 4:9-11

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. --John 3:16

And, what about the love between a man and a woman? Have you ever met someone who makes your heart flutter, who awakens butterflies in your stomach, who is constantly on your mind, who you think about all day and dream about all night long? Have you ever met someone who makes you tremble just because they look at you with eyes that say, “I love you.”? Some call it passion. I call it love and I ask, “Who would run from that kind of intense love?” And, if you did try to run from it, you would be living a life of denial. And, how long can a person live with unrequited love, penetrating their very existence to the point they feel like they are going to burst if they don’t let it out soon?

If you are fortunate to know this kind of love, then you know there is no way you can escape it. If love has entered your heart, love will win out. You might as well give in to it. Or, if circumstances warrant that you are not able to cater to the presence of your love, then at least recognize it, respect it, and learn to live with it in whatever way you can, because you were created to love and, like it or not, love will not go away, no matter what you do. Remember, you were created to love.
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Whether it happens in a flash, like love at first sight, or it is developed over time, love is a gift to be cherished. Allow love to happen and then treat it like it is the most valuable treasure you will ever own because it IS the most valuable treasure you will ever own.​

What Happened to the Wedding Officiant Business?
Oh, in case you are wondering what happened to my wedding officiant endeavor, let me share that I gave up the thought of conducting weddings simply because I knew I would be overly emotional during every ceremony, placing the attention on me. I felt it would not be fair to the intended. After all, this is their moment and the last thing they need is an overly weepy minister presiding over their wedding.