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Opinions of Thursday, 8 March 2018

Columnist: Kobina Ansah

Jealousy in, love out!

Kobina Ansah Kobina Ansah

"Love is not jealous."--- 1 Cor. 13:4b

Today is another day. We continue with the third episode of our #LoveLitmusTestSeries. Jealousy is not love!

Background

When Fiifi met Delali, one thing caught his attention; her overwhelming ambition. All through their dating/courtship period, she had been enterprising. Aside earning more than Fiifi as a corporate woman, she was running three side businesses which were awesomely profitable.

It's been two years of marriage. The same ambitious drive that brought them together seems to be tearing them apart. Fiifi feels threatened. Though Delali submits to him in every other way, he feels she's the man of the house. Almost every gadget and asset of theirs was acquired by her financial support.

Fiifi has resolved not to have anything to do with her businesses anymore. He silently prays they collapse. In fact, he has cooked up excuses that she makes more time for her businesses than she does for him.

He has warned her to quit her businesses and resort to a "less demanding" career (of course with less salary) else he'll call the marriage quits.

Is jealousy a sign of love?

Litmus Test

One must always test love on the scale of jealousy. An overly jealous man/woman has no trust for you. Mind you, love is supposed to be built on trust.

Love knows no jealousy. Love built on a solid foundation of trust can never wobble no matter the shades of jealousy that will be hurled at it.

It's no eighth wonder that most men feel threatened by daringly ambitious women, especially when they're their wives. A few lazy ones will even provoke such women!

Another litmus test for true love one has to always look out for is whether or not your spouse/spouse-to-be is overly jealous. Sometimes, jealousy can make them really petty!

Jealousy can arise in relationships in many forms. A little dose of it is fine when someone/something is getting more of the other person's attention.

However, there are other shades of jealousy that are utterly dangerous. We must always remind ourselves that love is not jealousy. If a person is overly jealous about you, they'll soon be overly envious.

Jealousy and envy are next door neighbours. If you feel threatened by your partner's success, you'll soon perceive them as an enemy.

Love knows no competition. If you truly love someone, their success becomes yours, too. You don't gloat over their failure!

When someone says they love you, observe how they receive news about your successes. Observe how far they can go to support your dreams.

Love that will want to suppress your ambitions will soon go every length to make sure you quit dreaming.

Inference

When jealousy walks in, love walks out.

Love is supposed to make us better. Love is supposed to make us wax stronger in ambitions. If they can't accommodate your ambitions, what they've for you is far from love. Don't accommodate them in your life!

NOTE:

A little dose of jealousy is good, like I mentioned earlier. The problem is when the "little" escalates to become envy and threats!

#LoveLitmusTestSeries #Episode3 #TribelessReloaded