More than love

I know, I know!  I've been a horrible blogger lately.  Please forgive me! 

Lucas and I spent last week with my sister-in-law and brother-in-law and brand new niece (she was less than 36 hours old when we met her!), helping and cooking and holding sweet baby when naps were needed.  We had a great time and it was such a blessing to be able to be there for those first few days.  Baby Maven is a sweet blessing indeed! 

In totally unrelated news, I'm thinking about making a change to my blog's name.  I have a Mary Engelbreit calendar on my desk and each week has a ME print on one side and the week's dates on the other side of the page.  Above the spaces for each day is a quote that sort of goes along with the print.  Well, this week is a quote from Edgar Allen Poe, which says, "We loved with a love that was more than love."  I know the quote comes from his poem "Annabel Lee" and it's in reference to a romantic love, but it got me thinking about other kinds of love.  It got me thinking about agape love. 

See, right now, with the audition, Daniel and I are totally stressed.  Add the adoption in, and we're essentially as overwhelmed as two still functioning people can be.  We're both ready to just give up.  One marathon has been going on for 3+ years.  The other for about a year and a half, if you count the time before we were approved for the adoption.  We're both trying to encourage each other, but when you've been running a marathon right along side someone else, you don't have much encouragement left to give.  You just need to be encouraged to make it through to the end.

And that's where love comes in.  First, and foremost, it's where God's love comes in.  That is where his love picks us up, and allows us to soar on eagle's wings.  "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail."  (Lamentations 3:22)  Without God's love, I do believe our family would have been consumed by the events of the last several months and years.  We're human.  We're frail.  And without divine intervention, we would have been eaten away by the pressures and the stresses and the worries of this world.  Praise the Lord that we are not!

Second, though, that's where our love for each other and our family comes in.  Because of the power of the Holy Spirit, we are able to love each other with more than earthly love.  We are able, in turn, to love the way God loves us.  We can love sacrificially.  We can love consistently.  We can love unendingly.  We can continue to encourage each other through these marathons we've been running, because we are encouraged by Jesus who runs along with us. 

With those thoughts in mind, I'm thinking of changing my blog's name to "More Than Love," as a reminder to myself.  And hopefully to you, too.  What do you think?