"The Love Dare" Day One

I decided today was as good a day as any to start reading the book "the Love Dare" At the bottom of this post you will find a picture of the book and a link so you can get it for yourself.

What is "The Love Dare". The description on the back of the book says it best. "The Love Dare is a 40-day challenge for husbands and wives to understand and practice unconditional love." Basically for 40 days you read through this book and it gives you exercises or dares to help you improve your marriage and learn the true meaning of unconditional love.  Some of you may have heard of the movie "Fireproof" this is the book that goes along with that movie.

You do not have to go through this as a couple but it is recommended.  I plan to tell you some of my experiences as I go through this.  Obviously some things are meant to stay between a husband and a wife but the parts I can share I will.

DAY ONE: Love is Patient

I had no idea how hard day one would be! If you know me even a little bit you probably know that I am not a patient person.   I have a hard time giving up control of things and allowing things to happen in their own time.  Today's lesson was talking about how love is built on two pillars.  Patience and Kindness.

When you decide to be patient you are deciding to be positive and let things happen.  When you are impatient you often times will respond in a negative or even foolish way.  I will be the first to tell you that I often react to thing negatively and have found myself with my foot in my mouth way to many times to count.  The Bible tells us in many instances the repercussions of impatience and anger.  It warns us to not let those things into our lives.  One of the main verses being Proverbs 14:29 which says

He who is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who is quick tempered exalts folly"

The basic lesson of today is to slow down, and think before you speak.  Take a deep breath and say something that is positive to the situation.  Negative will only make it worse.  If you like me, this is not an easy thing to do.  But its something that will make you and your relationship stronger.

My dare today was to say nothing negative to my spouse.  If I felt like saying something, I would stop and either say something positive or nothing at all.  I know we are all familiar with the "if can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all" phrase and that's what I had to do today. I think I did pretty well.  There were times I wanted to speak and normally I would have, but today I tried extra hard to be positive.

I challenge you to think of someone who means the world to you and who you love unconditionally and go a day without saying anything negative to them.  Comment and lt me know how it goes and how you felt afterwards.  I am looking forward to my day 2 challenge.

You can get your copy of The Love Dare here