Love is:

I dream about love. In my head I had an image of what love should be, and to be honest I thought I had it all figured out.

The kids will be outside running around on a September evening much like this one. The kitchen window will be open and the laughter from outside will fill the home with songs of happiness. I will be inside washing dishes and waiting for the dinner to come out of the oven humming a soft tune that reminds me of my sweetheart. And then out of no where his arms will appear from behind me, wrap me up close and he will kiss my neck ever so softly. I will laugh and then he will run outside to rough up the kids. Before I know it I smell burning food- I had been so caught up in watching my family that I had forgotten about food. And even though I will fill bad about having a crispy dinner- I won't care because I will be surrounded by happiness!

I still have this vision.

I want this- I mean, who doesn't?

But love is more than that.
There will be hard times and rough roads.

Love is about sacrifice.
Heaven is love.
So in my mind in order to have Heaven here on earth we have to sacrifice.

Joseph Smith said that "Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven."

My entire life I have been taught to serve the Lord first and everything else will fall into place. That as long as I give my whole heart to Him, He will take care of it and guide me to do the things which I should do. And in some cases giving up yourself unto the Lord is a sacrifice.

I am sure those are reading this and know that I am preparing to serve an LDS mission assume that I am just talking like this because I am in "missionary-mode" but it is more than that. This is an issue about love. A love that I have for my Heavenly Father and a love that I want to pour down on me and my family for generations to come.

I have applied this lesson about sacrifice and love to the idea of love that I had before. . . and I like it so much more.

It is late. I am exhausted. We have been pacing the hospital hallways for hours now and still haven't heard how the procedure went. I stop, slide down the wall and rest my head on my knees. I can't cry anymore, but instead I just sit there. My sweetheart sits down in front of me and grabs my hands. "Babe, I love you. You are strong, but honey this is in the Lord's hands now," he will know exactly what to say because he always has. Then he will kiss my forehead. "Together, with the Lord we can overcome this trial. Don't worry Honey, we are an Eternal Family Remember," and then he we slide up next to me and I will lie my head against his shoulder.

Now, that is love.