A measure of love

[Vance]

The degree to which your spouse's happiness gives you joy is a measure of the depth of your love.

Agree? Disagree?

 

[chriso]

Agree The more you love your spouse. I Believe the more you will want to see them happy. And do everything possible to keep them happy.

 

[MsAnne]

I agree it is ONE measure, yes.

I am at my happiest when he looks at me with contentment and/or happiness - especially if it's a result of something I've done for him.

 

[katelyn]

I agree with MsAnne about it being just one measure. It is a measure, but I would guess it's not always an accurate indicator as feelings can fluctuate. I would say that how you handle the low times is also a measure of the depth of your love.

 

[ceres]

I agree... however every person's love has a limit, and if all that person does it take-take-take while you show your love by giving them happiness, and they never in turn try to show you their love by giving you happiness, eventually your love will run out....

 

[Vance]

Yes, I agree that while this is one of the specific measures of how much you love, there is no guarantee that the degree of love will remain constant. If love goes unreciprocated for long enough, the degree of happiness you get from seeing the other happy will, indeed, decline, meaning that you are simply loving them less and less. Human nature. Thus, you can erode someone else's love for you by not loving them in return.

My poing of the OP is that you can guage your the intensity of your love for your spouse by simply asking yourself the simple question: how much joy do I get from seeing him/her happy?

 

[desi]

Sometimes. If your spouse is happy on drugs or other such destructive means you should not be joyful for it.

 

[Vance]

Yes, I agree, but I would say that is not true happiness as God intends it. The OP statement should be clarified to that extent, you are right.

 

[Jenna]

The degree to which your spouse's happiness gives you joy is a measure of the depth of your love.

Um, I don't know about that. I can be happy that he is happy, or even upset when he is happy (depending on the cause for his 'happiness' ), but I don't think that it reflects how much I love him. It is a good thing to keep in mind though.

 

[Vance]

Another way of looking at it is that if you are truly in love, one of your greatest joys in life is seeing your beloved happy, fulfilled and content. This applies not just to the specific instance of happiness, but happiness in general.

This is sort of a self-examining issue for us. How much joy does our spouse happiness give us? How important in our true and honest list of priorities is that happiness? How many things in our life are actually more important to us than our spouse's happiness? Since our true priorities are indicated by where we spend our time, thought and energy, how much of that time, thought and energy is spent on our spouse?

These questions can be reality checks for some of us.

A concept that goes along with this is that, to a certain extent, love is a choice, a conscious effort of focus and attention. Or, better, a conscious effort to let the love that has been squeezed into a corner by the pressures of everyday life and our own human nature, come back out and reconnect to our spouse.

 

[scaddigs]

The degree to which your spouse's happiness gives you joy is a measure of the depth of your love.

Agree? Disagree?

Hmmm...I wish I were that unselfish but, it honestly depends on my mood. If my mood is lousy, Steve's happiness is not going to cause an exceeding joy in me. lol Now, would I donate a kidney to save his life? Absolutely; without batting an eye.