Love the Edward Cullen way?

Yesterday, I watched my only brother marry the love of his life and I welled up a little when they spoke their vows because of the love with which they both spoke, but also because of the fact that they both believed with such conviction that God had brought them together.

I have a very dear friend from university called Wendy who met her future husband on the committee of the Christian Union.  These two, like my brother and his wife, just "work".  They are one of those couples that you see and can't imagine not being together, because it seems like they were designed for each other, and that's what I believe the were, designed for each other by God.

Having witnessed such a beautiful wedding yesterday, I find myself thinking about different portrayals of love in famous couples -

The tragic devotion of Romeo and Juliet beautifully captures the depth of first love.
Elizabeth Bennett and Mr Darcy demonstrate the way that loves changes and helps us better understand ourselves.
Corin and Avaris in the Horse and His Boy show the vital role of friendship leading to love.
Llewelyn and Joanna in Sharon Penman's Here Be Dragons wonderfully display the need for balance and understanding in love.
Finally, most beautifully in my opinion:
Anne Elliott and Frederick Wentworth in Jane Austen's Persuasion portray the beauty of true love - that which overcomes and endures through incredible hardship.

And then we come to Edward Cullen.

For any girl who has been to secondary/senior/high school it is utterly easy to understanding Bella's attraction to Edward in Twilight.  We were all once ordinary, hormonal girls who dreamt and longed for a beautifully handsome man to be attracted to and fall in love with us and this is what I think Twilight encapsulates - the high school fantasy of almost every teenage girl.  We all went through the superficial, looks-focussed attitude to boys at some point in our lives.

But I have found myself thinking about Edward's attitude and love for Bella, and it is quite ... for want of a better word obsessive.  This is the reason I chose the above picture from the film. The sheer intensity with which he is looking at Bella is slightly alarming having only known the girl for a few weeks.  Yes I know he is vampire, 100 years old, and finding his one true love, but I find myself thinking about real relationships that I have witnessed and seen in people I love and such relationships put Edward Cullen's love into a sharp focus.  My brother took two and a half years to ask his wife out after much prayer and building of their - friendship - a very key concept in what I have experienced of love.

I don't know about other people, but I want to marry my best friend.  I can't imagine falling in love with anyone but my best friend, and I just don't think that obsessive attraction is the same thing.  Edward may realise he is meant to be with Bella because of Alice's very helpful visions, but in reality I don't think that you can love someone until you know them - love and attraction are too different things.

So, overall, having witnessed an absolutely beautful and wonderful marriage, I can't help agreeing with the pastor who spoke at their wedding, who said that their love was 'God given', because He is at the centre of their marriage and their love, and always will be.  Their love is not just based on mutual affection, attraction and similarity of interests, its based on a love for a God who is the centre of their lives.

Theirs is a love that has balance, focus and devotion.