Love or Infatuation?

We are going to a Bible study titled Love, Sex and Lasting Relationships (can you say that in church) After I weed through all the over the top things and get to the basics, I am really enjoying it. Marty and I are in 2 different classes to promote a more honest discussion, personally it wouldn’t bother me if he was in my class.
Last week was a discussion on the difference between love and infatuation.

Love: (1) strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties (2) : attraction based on sexual desire: affection and tenderness felt by lovers (3) : affection based on admiration, benevolence, or common interests
Infatuation: (1) foolish and usually extravagant passion or love or admiration (2) puppy love (3) an object of extravagant short-lived passion

I hadn’t really given infatuation much thought until I took the class, but looking back, maybe I should have. I realized that I have had many infatuation relationships but only one love relationship (and yes it is with Marty in case you were wondering) It was like a light bulb went off, so that’s why none of the other relationships worked, thank goodness. There was a test per say that we took to determine if the current relationship we were in was infatuation or love. I knew I was in love but it did help shed some light on my past relationships. Here are a few of the ones that hit home.
TIME: Love grows with time, infatuation comes suddenly
I didn’t want to like Marty in the beginning, yes he knows this. It was something that just grew, even if I didn’t want it to and tried to make it stop.
SECURITY: An individual in love has a sense of security and a feeling of trust. An infatuated person tends to have a blind sense of security based upon wishful thinking rather than upon careful consideration, or he may have a sense of insecurity that is sometimes expressed as jealousy.
This one hit big time. I have never been jealous when it comes to Marty. It has bothered me in the past because I was jealous in my other relationships and I couldn’t figure out why I wasn’t now. It’s because I’m in LOVE. I don’t feel the fear that I felt in the past, wow it’s wonderful.
PROBLEM SOLVING: A couple in love faces problems frankly and attempts to solve them. In infatuation, problems tend to be glossed over.
No need to elaborate
DISTANCE: Love tends to be constant. Infatuation often varies with the distance.
Marty and I haven’t ever spent much time away from each other but I don’t worry if we were to ever have to.

Some of you are going, oh what a sappy post, but it was something of such significance this week that I just had to share. It was such a great feeling to realize that I have in fact found my one true love. Sappiness over.