The Love Dare Bible Study: Day 1

We started a new Bible study last night, The Love Dare Bible Study. It is not Beth, but I think it is going to be good! The DVDs you watch are clips from the movie and there is a thin work book that is used along with the actual Love Dare book. So, last night we started the study with session 1- watched the DVD clips (very short- which right now is a good thing) and throughout this upcoming week, we will go through the study book (there are 4 sections for each week: Ignite- kind of like an icebreaker/ topics to get to know each other better, Gear Up- Introduces topic/ bible study, Firefighting- helps couples transform marriages, and Fireproof Now- which contains commitments, wrap-up and prayer). These can be done over 4 days or all at once. Also, throughout this upcoming week, we will do Days 1-5 of the Love Dare. Next week, we will discuss all that we have learned and begin session 2. 

So, that being said, wanted to share Day 1. (all of the following is straight from the Love Dare book)

"Love is built on two pillars that best define what it is. Those pillars are patience and kindness. All other characteristics of love are extensions of these two attributes. Love will inspire you to become a patient person. When you CHOOSE to be patient, you respond in a positive way to a negative situation. You are slow to anger. You choose to have a long fuse instead of a quick temper. Rather than being restless and demanding, love helps you settle down and begin extending mercy to those around you. Patience brings an internal calm during an external storm. No one likes to be around an impatient person. It causes you to overreact in angry foolish and regrettable ways. The irony of anger toward a wrongful action is that it spawns new wrongs of its own. Anger almost never makes things better- in fact it usually generates additional problems. BUT patience stops problems in their tracks. It is a CHOICE to control your emotions rather than allowing your emotions to control you, and shows discretion instead of returning evil for evil. Do you find that anger is your emotional default when treated unfairly? If so, you are spreading poison rather than medicine. Anger is usually caused when the strong desire for something is mixed with disappointment or grief. You don’t get what you want, you start heating up inside. It is often an emotional reflection that flows out of your own selfishness, foolishness or evil motives. Patience, however, makes us wise. It doesn't rush to judgment but listens to what the other person is saying. Patience waits to see the WHOLE picture before passing judgment. The Bible says, “He who is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who is quick tempered exalts folly” Proverbs 14:29 what would the tone and volume of your home be like if you tried this  biblical approach: “ see that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another” 1 Thessalonians 5:15  few of us do patience very well and none of us do it naturally, but wise men and women will pursue it as an essential ingredient to their marriage relationships. That is a good starting point to demonstrate true love."