Dare: Love is a choice, not a feeling. It is an initiated action, not a knee-jerk reaction. Choose today to be committed to love even if your spouse has lost most of their interest in receiving it. Say to them today in words similar to these, "I love you. Period. I choose to love you even if you don't love me in return."

Why is this kind of love impossible without the love of Christ beating in your heart? How does His presence within you enable you to love, even when it's primarily one-sided? Today's devotional discussed the unenviable life of Hosea who married a prostitute and loved her in spite of all of the wrongs she had done to him in repeated affairs. This would be unbelievably painful to deal with in my own marriage. I won't pretend I would show the same kind of grace in the midst of similar circumstances that Hosea showed. But I do know that I would continue to love my wife. How do I know that? Because I determined before I married her that my love was without conditions. I may have chosen her because of all of her incredibly endearing qualities, and I may appreciate and enjoy the benefit of her personality, commitment, talents, and looks. But when I chose to love Christine, I knew I was choosing a forever love. I love my wife unconditionally, and by the grace of God, that love will withstand any tests-if it didn't, it would never have been an unconditional love in the first place.