What is Love?

by Kristi Williams-Fontenot

I was not quite 18 and he was barely 21. He was tall, dark and handsome, had just finished playing baseball and to top it off, he had the bluest eyes I had ever seen! Exactly the kind of guy I always told my mom I would marry! Isn’t that how all fairy tales go for women?! We met in the union on campus a few days into my first semester at LSU. We had a mutual friend that set us up on our first date and as the saying goes, the rest is history! Within a year we were married and expecting our first child. Yep, that’s right, 19 and married with a new baby! Can I be honest with you? Nothing about that was easy! Looking back you could say we were young, dumb and “in love”.

I often wonder how many people thought to themselves our marriage would never last. Heck, if I am being honest, I had thought that very thing myself on more than one occasion. One thing I learned early on is that marriage is hard, and it doesn’t come with a manual. Being only 19 and 22 years old with a newborn baby makes marriage even harder. I didn’t know how to truly love myself much less someone else. I think often times we feel like love is an emotion someone else must make us feel. I know I did. We hope and expect our spouse to do something or say something that will make us feel in love them. When, in reality, love is something that comes from within us. We choose to love. As we all know, every relationship is filled with good times and bad. But it’s in those times that you draw closer to each other and learn grace, acceptance and love. It is because of God’s grace that we can truly love. God first forgave me, so I can truly forgive someone else. God first accepted me, so I can accept someone else for who they truly are. God first loved me, so I can truly love someone else.

Our marriage, like most, has been quite an amazing journey filled with a lot of good times, forgiveness and love. Today we are happily married with 4 beautiful children and this year we will celebrate our 21st anniversary. We have grown into the adults we are together, and we have learned how to truly love each other and our family. Throughout the years marriage hasn’t always been easy, but one thing I can assure you is that love always is.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.”

1 Corinthians 13:4-6