When I Fall in Love
May 27, 2025
He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end. John 13:1 NLT
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 NLT
“When I Fall in Love” is an ever-popular song, written by Victor Young (music) and Edward Heyman (lyrics) in the early 1950s, but Nat King Cole is the one who made it top the charts in 1956. In the almost 70 years since then, it has been a perennial favorite for weddings, professional singers’ song lists, and even in the last years it has been featured by numerous contestants in competitions like “American Idol” and “The Voice.”
The lyrics are always potent because they reflect both our hopes and our fears:
When I fall in love, it will be forever, or I'll never fall in love.
In a restless world like this, love is ended before it's begun.
And too many moonlight kisses seem to cool in the warmth of the sun.
When I give my heart, it will be completely, or I'll never give my heart!
And the moment I can feel that you feel that way too is when I fall in love with you!
Beautiful. Optimistic. Naïve.
The writer is correct about our restless world and love ending before it has a chance to thrive. He is right about moonlight passion cooling in the harsh light of daytime reality. But he’s dead wrong about the ability to make a determination to “fall in love only” with someone who also wants to be in love forever and “feels” the same way you do becoming a guarantee for forever love. In actuality, that’s one of those expectations that can cause the brightest love to disappear like a falling star. Moonlight kisses cool in the warmth of the sun, yes. But behind that reality is that the typical relationship dies a slow death, drowning in the gap between what they expected and what is.
Lasting love is not a decision to feel a certain way forever, or the choice of “the right person who feels the way you do too.” Lasting love comes with everyday choices to live and love the way Jesus loves us. This is the love described in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. It is what fills the gap between our expectations and our disappointments and enables us to grow together for a lifetime.
- Jesus, help me see where my love is drowning in the gap. Help me deliberately choose to fill the gap with the perspective and choices of love like Yours. Amen.