Yearning for Fireworks and Butterflies

I had just finished reading one of Nicholas Sparks' recent novels.  It was one of the many that was made into a film where lots of couples viewed on a designated date night, an official "click flick".  After reading the last page of the novel I closed the book, placed it on my lap and looking up from my reclined position on the couch I asked my husband in a whiny desperate tone, "Do you love me?  Tell me the all of the reasons you love me."

ha ha ha.... definitely not one of my finer moments.  I can't remember my husband's response, but I do remember he was shocked and speechless.  He wisely knew that such a question never leads down a satisfying road and carefully chose how to answer.

Page after page and chapter after chapter I watched the two characters meet and fall in love.  The chemistry of new love offers illusions of never ending fireworks and butterflies.  And that picture tempts me with envy, covetousness, lust, malice, and anger.  I recognize that the emotions such click flicks stir up should serve as a warning system that going down such a path is an insatiable road.  So if I recognize the danger, why does such a road tempt me with promises it cannot fulfill?

I don't like it when it feels as though my mind has been captured by the allurements and false promises of the world.  But at the same time I cannot turn from its gaze if I don't develop biblical convictions as to what is true.  Right now it is sorta a jumbled mess in my mind.  I know certain biblical truths about love but they are intermingled with the promises of Hollywood love which leaves me with questions.  It is my new pursuit to untangle this mess in my mind.

I truly believe that the love God designed for a husband and wife is exponentially better than what Hollywood portrays through fireworks and butterflies.  I have a yearning to uncover the false hope that these portrayals promise.  This insatiable temptation to long after fleeting promises is common among women.  By very nature, fireworks and butterflies are but for a moment in time and in contrast God is everlasting and unchanging.  Why am I playing with mudpies in the sand when a holiday at the sea awaits?

We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.  - C.W. Lewis