Love and Courage

It's always wonderful to encounter people who are in love.  They carry this unmistakable glow that comes only to those who have opened their hearts, and are willing to risk the vulnerability that comes with it.  But vulnerability carries its twin, and that is fear.  I saw both this glow and this fear in a dear friend and co-servant of mine today, and reminded me of this amazing movie that I watched recently.

It's called Letters from Juliet, about a place in Verona where broken hearts go to write about their pain and leave it in Juliet's shrine, where a group of ladies called Juliet's secretaries collects the letters and writes back in her behalf.  It is the story of an "old" woman who wrote a letter there in her youth and received a reply 50 years after.  It recounts her journey to find her one true love.

They do find each other after an amazing journey, and during their wedding ceremony, Claire reads the letter that she received.  I believe it's a letter that's written for all women out there who are aching to find their one true love.  Allow me to share with you the words from the movie.

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Claire says : "Dear friends, 50 years ago I went to Juliet's house in Verona.  I wrote her a letter and I asked her a question.  And two months ago, I received a reply.

And without that letter, none of us would be here today.

Dear Claire,

WHAT and IF are two words as non-threatening as words can be.  But put them together side by side and they have the power to haunt you for the rest of your life.  

What if.  

What if.  

What if.

I dont know how your story ended but if what you felt then was true love, then it's never too late.  If it was true then, why wouldn't t it be true now?  

You need only the courage to follow your heart.  

I don't know what the love like Juliet's feels like; a love to leave loved ones for, a love to cross oceans for. But I'd like to believe, if I ever were to feel it, that I'd have the courage to seize it.  And Claire, if you didn't, I hope one day that you will.

All my love, Juliet.

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This letter rings true for every woman out there who has ever encountered the wonderful gift of falling in love.  I agree that love is its own gift - one that is deep, the one that remains faithful for a lifetime, the love that overcomes against all odds. 

But FALLING IN LOVE is a gift in itself too.  When you fall in love with the right one, may this letter give all of you, my dearest girlfriends, the courage to seize it and never let it go.

Seven years ago, I met a man in Brunei during a two day mission trip with Tito Tony.  We exchanged letters and phone calls for two months, he came to the Philippines and proposed, and we got married within a year of meeting each other for the first time.  It didn't make sense, it was the scariest thing I had ever done, and it made me understand for the first time why they called it FALLING in love and a LEAP of faith.  But seven years later, I look back and I thank the Lord everyday for the grace of courage to have chosen to follow my heart despite everything that people said.  I would not have it any other way.

People ask me all the time how you know that you've found the right one.  I've struggled to answer that question, because there never seems to be the right words to describe how I felt then when I said yes to marry Manny.  But let me share with you again something that I found online that comes pretty close to what my heart felt and tries to capture what is quite simply, beyond words.

"The way you know you have found the right one is the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with the person.  Having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all right out, just as they are, chaff and grain together; certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then with the breath of kindness blow the rest away." - Dinah Craik

Today, I pray for all my beautiful and passionate single friends who are praying to find the right one.  May the good Lord, in His perfect time and place, allow you to find the one especially made for you.  And when that time comes, may you find the grace to be courageous, and to simply follow your heart.  

You deserve all the happiness in the world, and the Lord intends for you to experience nothing less.

You are in my prayers, and I look forward to sharing that special day with you very soon!

1 John 4:18 "Perfect love casts out all fear."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CV3sHN7J7rY