Monday, June 7, 2010

Taylors story!

“A marriage where either partner does not respect the other, cannot be agreeable.”


-Jane Bennett, Pride and Prejudice.

Love and Respect. My parents were once in a small group that covered these exact topics. The basic premise of this study was that love is key to girls and respect is key to guys. Anyways, a while back Jen and I were talking (or texting rather) and I was saying how usually when a girl likes a guy, or sometimes even starts dating him, it’s solely on the basis of if she likes him. But, (speaking hypotheticallly here) you need to be asking yourself, even before you begin dating a guy, if you can respect him. Ask yourself if you can respect who he is, what he says, what his opinions are, the choices he makes, etc. And if you can’t well…chances are that no matter how cute he is, it’s just not gonna work out.

My mom showed two of my sisters and me one of her favorite films the other night: “The Way We Were” with Robert Redford (oh.my.gosh) and Barbara Streisand. I don’t want to give the plot away but I kind of have to in order to make my point. It’s about this girl and guy who met in college. He was a really good athlete who was popular and had all the girls after him. She was a geek who was a BIG political activist on their campus. Through a series of events, they fell in love and got married, despite all the warning signs and breakups. (and I must confess that I quite liked the whole geeky-girl-gets-the-hunking-guy thing...struck home lol) There are several points in their relationship where it nearly crumbled. Then, over time, they ended up getting a divorce. And I bawled. But the thing was, it wasn’t like a huge argument split them up. It was a mutual loss of repsect over the course of their relationship. And I was just like, wow, how sobering is that? Cause, Robert Redford is REALLY REALLY good-looking, and sometimes we’re tempted to think that physical attracton alone would be enough to get a marriage through the rough spots. But it’s not.

Love and Respect. A girl probably won’t stay with a guy if she doesn’t feel loved. And a guy probably won’t stay with a girl if she can’t respect him. But the tough part is, it’s not as natural for a girl to show respect as it is for her to show love. And so it seems a hopeless business. But that is where God steps in if we ask and helps us in our inefficiences. I want to be with a guy who will love me and whom I can respect. But, I am sorry to say, respect does not always come easily to me. So I’m starting now to ask God to help me choose wisely and end up with a guy that I can and will respect. Who’s with me?

9 comments:

Katie said...

I am! :) My Sunday School Class was actually just talking about this a couple of weeks ago and I had really been thinking about it lately. Anyway, GREAT post!

Sarah said...

I'm with you. :) There's actually a book called Love and Respect (http://www.amazon.com/Love-Respect-Desires-Desperately-Needs/dp/1591451876) that my parents. have. Sometimes it's hard to imagine having to respect someone that much (I mean usually everyone respects ME right?? haha not) but God will give us the grace when the time comes. Thanks for this post. :)

Katherine said...

I am!!!!! Incredible post...really really important point. Thanks for the reminder!

Blessings!
Katherine

Taylor said...

thanks guys :)
I'm going to have to check out that book...thanks for the recommendation!

Meggie said...

Thats a good point, there is definatly got to be more in a guy then his looks...
I think we need to consider a lot of things before we decide on marriage. 'I Kissed Dating Goodbye' by Joshua Harris really helped me with that.
Blessings,
Meggie

Anonymous said...

I have an e-mail now and I would love to e-mail you back and forth if that's alright.

Jennifer R said...

I totally agree with you Taylor... Awesome job!! :)

I will also have to look up that book!

Ashley- Would you like to email taylor, kat, or I? We a; have email and im sure all of us would love to email you! :)

Anonymous said...

That's great!! My E-mail is fiddlintonashville@gmail.com
Can't wait to hear from each of you!!!

Anonymous said...

That's great...and I agree! =D Thanks for posting, and I think I've seen that movie a long time ago. = )