Love is not proud.

Padrone is so proud of me....and i am almost unbearably proud to wear His collar and be His. Pride has to be an integral part of any relationship. If one isn't proud to be a partner to the other, then the relationship is not strong.

So how can love not be proud? How can that be, when pride has to be in a relationship....a loving relationship?

The kind of pride i take this characteristic of love to mean, is the damaging kind of pride. This is the pride that refuses to allow someone to admit that he/she is wrong. This is the pride that doesn't allow apologies or compromises. This is the kind of pride that goes before a fall - in other words, it refuses to allow any kind of change of any sort, no matter the problems it creates.

The pride that i have in being His, and in wearing His collar, in the fact that He loves me and loves to own me.......that pride is different. That pride makes me strive to be *my* best, to increase the pride He feels in me. It makes me desire to serve better, to submit more deeply, to love more fully.

And i know that the same applies to Him. The pride that He feels in me, in who i am and in the service i provide....the fact that i love Him and i love to serve Him.......that makes Him strive to be the best Master to me that He can be.

In other words, feeling proud of each other is vastly different than being stiffnecked and arrogantly proud in ourselves. That is so lonely. What we feel is so giving...it enhances the relationship rather than damaging it.

i hope that is what comes across in my blog, you know. When i began thinking of typing on this characteristic, all i could think of is how i talk about the good parts of our relationship (not many bad parts anymore)....and how proud i am to be His, and how lucky i am, and i realize that it may come across as bragging, prideful, regarding what we have. i honestly hope i never come across that way. i am truly humbled by the way our relationship has grown and developed. i am truly humbled by the way Padrone feels about me, and i will never take what we have for granted.

Our love isn't proud, but we are proud in our love. What an incredible way to live and to love.