Even when our own don’t exist, we young women like to talk about our future marriage, home, and children, don’t we? Simply put, we were made for that kind of life. And occasionally you might hear us ask each other with a hardly-suppressed grin,

“So, if you were married tomorrow and had a
home of your own, would you be ready?”

This question may send our thoughts to pondering the wonderful state of matrimony, setting up house, and taking on the world beside our husbands. The thought of sunshine streaming through the windows as little chubby feet pound and patter across the floor while I prepare a hearty midday meal just thrills. my. heart.

But what if we were asked,

“If your parents were ill needing your
constant care, or were even in hospice, would you be ready
to lay down your life to take care of them?”

Are you readying yourself for the disenchanting jobs life will bring? Are you prepared to care for a sick or dying man? Are you willing, eager, to sacrifice your life to show the love of Jesus Christ to a person whom the world deems useless and unwanted?

“Grandfather’s Little Nurse” by James Hayllar – image credit

There may be a bigger difference between the two answers than we’d like to admit. From my own blissful optimism changing to deer-in-the-headlight discomfort, they reveal my heart’s attitude toward showing true Christlike love. Marriage is a high calling most of us will find ourselves in, and it will require a life of sacrifice. We cannot sow to the flesh and expect to reap the Spirit — the true meaning of love must be rediscovered and lived out in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ who showed us what Love really looks like.

“Greater love hath no man than this,
that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
(John 15:13, KJV)