This point is so important that I must emphasize it. If you expect to live for months or years on a romantic mountaintop, you can forget it.
You won't stay there. My concern is for the many naive young couples who "fall in love" and lock themselves into marriage early in the relationship before the natural swing of their emotions has even had its first dip. They then awaken one morning without that neat feeling and conclude that love has died. In reality, it was never there in the first place. They were fooled by an emotional high before it came sliding downward. This is the bottom line: When love is defined as a feeling, the relationship can be no more stable than a frame of mind.
Remember that the greatest passage about love ever written, recorded in 1 Corinthians 13, does not even mention feelings. It tells us, "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, 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. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails" (1 Cor. 13:4-8). That sets the record straight.
There is a related matter that I feel we must touch, at least, before concluding. Our spiritual lives also conform to the characteristics I have described. Many people who repent of their sins and become followers of Jesus Christ subsequently experience the kind of "honeymoon" that is typical for romantic lovers.
They feel an incredible sense of cleanness and harmony with God. It is not unusual for such new converts to read the Bible many times each day and to think about little else. Those individuals are in danger of spiritual confusion at that moment, because once again, their feelings will be temporary. Emotions cannot remain supercharged, even for the noblest reasons.
As with romantic love, our relationship with the Lord goes through distinct emotional stages. First there is the courtship, when we are getting to know Him and beginning to understand His holy Word. Then there is the honeymoon period, which is nothing short of exhilarating. Finally, there is the steady, deep, but less-emotional experience of married life. This third stage is marked by a quiet commitment and growing maturity as the years unfold.
New believers who don't understand how emotions change in time may become disillusioned and conclude that their faith is meaningless. It is a tragic mistake. Their relationship with the Lord must be based on Scripture and its claims, rather than linking it to ephemeral feelings that blow hot and cold. You can be as close to the Lord when you feel nothing as when you're in the grip of spiritual passion.
I've addressed this topic in greater detail in my book EMOTIONS: CAN YOU TRUST THEM? It is relevant here because of the need for self-awareness when we are young. Socrates gave that advice to each of his students 2,500 years ago when he instructed them to "Know thyself."
being in the morning of his or her life.
By Dr. James Dobson