Ahhh, to be in love!

Okay, I don't want to get all schmaltzy here, but this IS a wedding blog...

There's an age-old question that I've heard over the years: How do you know when you're in love?

Is love an emotion? a mental state-of-mind? a decision to be made? or an obligation?

Answering a question with a question doesn't further the debate. So I turn to the scripture that will be read during our wedding ceremony.

First letter of Paul to the Corinthians:
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful;
it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or
resentful;
it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will
cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.
For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect;
but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away.
When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child;
when I became a man, I gave up childish ways.
For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I
shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood.
So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

So, how do you know when you're in love? This scripture speaks to me in many ways. It's about having the maturity to transform love as an obsession into a willful obligation. It's about realizing the qualities in your partner that make you whole. It's the peace of mind that you feel when nothing else is going right in your life, but you always know there's someone to turn to. It's being there 24/7 for each other. It's being brutally honest about your hopes and fears and your inadequacies. It's the acceptance of these with your partner.

I love Ngoc for these reasons and many more. It's a strong feeling and responsibility that I hold and cherish.