An old story reminds us of the humor of romance. A man was going to the county fair one day with a pig under one arm and a chicken under the other arm and a basket on his head. He came to a crossroads and didn’t know which way to turn. While he stood there deciding, a young woman approached him, heading the same direction.
“Please, ma’am, I’m on the way to the county fair. Can you tell me which way to go?”
“Yes,” she replied. “I’m on my way there, too. We’ll go right down this way about a mile, turn left about a mile and a half, left again about a mile and we’re right there.”
He said, “Wait a minute...down here, turn left and left again? Couldn’t we save a lot of time by walking through these woods?”
She replied, “Yes, we could. But I couldn’t walk through those woods with you. Why...you might try to kiss me!”
“Listen,” he said, “how could I possibly kiss anybody with a pig under one arm, a chicken under the other arm, and a basket on my head?”
“Well, you could put that chicken on the ground, turn the basket upside down over the chicken, and I could hold that little bitty ole pig.”
Where there is love, there’s a way. Although one would be hard-pressed to define a romantic attraction as “love.” They are really not at all the same things. They may have felt a romantic attraction for each other, but that is nothing at all like love. And as nice as it is to keep romance in our lives, in the end, isn’t it love that we are really after?
Writer Marjorie Holmes points out the difference between love and romance: “Romance is seeking perfection; love is forgiving faults. Romance is flying; love is a safe landing. Romance is the anguish of waiting for the phone to ring to bring you a voice that will utter endearments; love is the anguish of waiting for a call that will assure you someone else is happy and safe. Romance is eager, striving always to appear attractive for each other; love is two people who find beauty in each other no matter how they look.”
Authentic love will find many expressions − the kind of love shared by spouses; love felt by longtime friends; love of a parent for a child. Authentic love is deeper than the often-fleeting feeling of being “in love.” And so much better.
Romance is wonderful, but love is essential. How are you filling your life with love?
-- Steve Goodier
Image: flickr.com/Petur
