Taking a Bullet "for ya"

Last weekend, as I was on my way home from New York driving a cargo van with no CD player or tape player, my only option was to listen to the radio. As I scanned across the radio, I came to the "pop" radio station, probably a KISS FM of sorts. As I was listening to the KISS FM radio station, I heard a song, which I later learned was by Bruno Mars. The song was called "Grenade", and the chorus of the song says, "I'd catch a grenade for ya
Throw my hand on a blade for ya
I'd jump in front of a train for ya
You know I'd do anything for ya

I would go through all this pain
Take a bullet straight through my brain
Yes, I would die for you, baby
But you won't do the same

No, no, no no."

The point of the song is to explain how Bruno feels about a woman (although it doesn't appear that she has the same feelings...) and what he would do "for ya".

The thing is, after I thought about it, that the things that Bruno says that he will do "for ya" are things that aren't necessarily proving of the love he has for the woman. He says that he would throw himself in front of a train, and take a bullet, and catch a grenade. These are all things that indicate that he would die for the woman, and yet, this is a one time expression of "love." These things are good expressions of compassion, but they aren't very good expressions of "love" in the marriage relationship (which is probably not how he meant it exactly, but still...). I would take a bullet for a lot of people, but that doesn't show that I love them in the day-in, day-out sense, just that I'd be willing to have compassion on them in a one-time event.

But to truly express "love" for my wife, it is not expressed simply by the notion of "taking a blade for ya." It's more fully expressed in the daily acts of laying down my life for her--in the fullest sense. The daily sacrifice of my desires and wants for those of my wife--and the protection of her from her own wrong desires--are the things that truly express the love I have for my wife. That is what shows my wife that I truly love her--the fact that I am willing (albeit with growing frequency as my love for her continues to grow...) to lay down my personal preferences for the sake of our family is what shows her that I love her.

So, with all due respect to Bruno Mars, I think that any man can show love by dying for a woman--but it takes true love to live your life "dying" for your woman.