to love is to burn

My dear friends,

Jane Austen really had it right.  She understood something that women in today's society just don't get--we aren't courageous, or don't have the self-confidence to truly comprehend our own hearts.  Jane lived in a world where women were dependent on men, and marrying well to ensure economic and social stability.  Marriages commonly took place not out of love, but convenience.  Yet, Jane Austen wrote stories about beautiful women who weren't afraid to hold out for true love... women who didn't succumb to societal expectations of marriage.  


"Can the soul really be satisfied with such polite affections?  To love is to burn--to be on fire." ~S&S


I love this line because when my sister got married, I described the way it felt to be around her and her husband like being close to a bonfire.  You could feel the rightness of it and the love like being close to raging flames.  I know couples where it's like standing next to a candle--there is fire, which you would assume creates warmth, but in such small quantities does not.

But, did you know Jane Austen herself never married?


I wonder if she wanted to, or if she just held out too long, or if maybe the kind of love she writes does not exist, except only in the quiet, deep chambers of our hearts.  I have wondered this myself before, though I do often conclude that it does exist.  It's kind of like believing in anything that is not tangible.  Like believing in Santa Clause or the Tooth Fairy--you want to, but... you grow up.


I am determined to not give into such pessimism.  


Love Always,