Love is shown by Work

Saw tiz from an email i received. Its above how married couples should grow and flourish their marriage in the love of God. Read till the end and realised that not many, including me can love like Jesus. The below texts are wad i've summarised.

Words are relatively easy. But love without work is like a body without a soul. We must work at being loving otherwise love will slowly fade away. The work we do will show how much our spouse means to us. Without work it is just lip service. It is just words. It is insincere and it is empty. For love to grow and flourish, we have to put in the effort to:
1. Work
Jesus loves us and He works at it, “we must carry out the work of the One who sent Me; the night will soon be here when no one can work”(John 9:4 NJB)
No couple should deny their spouse the little things of affection, the amenities of love, along the busy and trying days.
2. Accept Differences
“Show your love by being tolerant with one another” (Ephesians 4:2 TEV)
3. Initiate Giving Love
"we love Him because He first loved us.”(1 John 4:19 TEV)
“Do for others what you want them to do for you.” (Matthew 7:12 TEV)
4. Trust
And one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit is “faithfulness” (Galatians 5:22 TEV)
Love “believes all things,” emphasising the necessity of trust in any loving relationship. (1 Corinthians 13:7 NKJV)
5. Give sacrificially
Am I always self-serving? Am I considerate to my spouse’s feelings or am I only sensitive to my own feelings? Jesus acknowledges that it is natural that we all love ourselves very well but He commands us to “Love your neighbour as you love yourselves.” (Matthew 22:39 TEV)
6. Restrain certain actions
God restrains Himself because of His great love for us: “For the sake of My name I shall defer My anger, for the sake of My honour I shall be patient with you, rather than destroy you.” (Isaiah 48:9 NJB)
7. Always seek reconciliation and compromise
“For God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not die but have eternal life.” (John 3:16 TEV)
8. Commit Ourselves
It is in the nature of true love to bind itself, to commit itself. St Paul described this quality when he said, “Love suffers long. . . bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.”(1 Corinthians 13:4,7,8 NKJV)
9. Endless Forgiveness
Jesus reminds Peter the number of times he has to forgive his brother, “’Lord, if my brother keeps on sinning against me, how many times do I have to forgive him? Seven times?’ ‘No, not seven times,’ answered Jesus, ‘but seventy times seven’” (Matthew 18:21-22 TEV).
10. Stop keeping scores
“love does not keep a record of wrongs” (1 Corinthians 13:5 TEV). God does not keep a record of our wrongs when we repent. Similarly, we have to do the same.
11. Small acts of Care and Consideration
“Let us be concerned for one another, to help one another, to show love and to do good.”(Hebrew 10:24 TEV)
12. Communicate
“My commandment is this: love one another, just as I love you”(John 15:12 TEV). Jesus also communicates how He wants us to love Him in return: ”If you love Me, you will obey My commandments” (John 14:15 TEV)
13. Anger
Do I get angry if I don’t get my way? Do I have a short fuse?We are the only one who can make ourselves angry. We choose how we respond to the event that upset us. We must choose to take active steps “never let the sun set on our anger or else we will give the devil a foothold.” (Ephesians 4:27 NJB)
14. Mercy
“It (mercy) is twice blest: It blesseth him that gives and him that takes” (Act4: Scene I:184-185).
15. Putting our spouse first
We must also “look out for one another’s interest, not just for your own.” (Philippians 2:4 TEV)

It is extremely important to remember that the limited checklist above is for oneself to grow and improve and NOT as a checklist to use against our spouse. None of us, on our own effort, will have the staying power to stick to the above works. But if we ask the Holy Spirit within us to guide and help us stay the course, we will, in time, come close to achieving the ideal love we all so desired.
Love works only for those who WORK at it and with the help of the Holy Spirit through constant prayers.