In fairy tales, you don’t go from zero to sixty in seconds. Rather, you savor each conversation, carefully weigh each word, and patiently wait months or years before you finally win the priceless treasure of the other person’s heart. Modern romances are sadly lacking in the dignity, nobility, and honor that was prevalent in the days of knights and fair maidens. The only way to gain the dignity and nobility that our feminine hearts crave is to carefully protect the sacred things, no matter how strange or old-fashioned they might seem.

Instead of spending mindless hours on the phone chitchatting with Eric every night, I waited with eager anticipation for his once-a-week call from the payphone outside his missionary school. Every word was savored. We didn’t waste time talking about meaningless things. We cherished every moment and counted every conversation as significant because we only talked once a week. Instead of exchanging quick, shallow text messages every day, we took the time to write long, thoughtful letters to each other. I still love to look through the box of letters we wrote to each other during those years. I look at the carefully scripted, thoughtful words and remember the delicate way our hearts opened to each other. It was a thousand times more romantic and dignified than mindless emails or text messages.

This is not to say that you can’t have the “Jane Austen magic” if you choose to use email or cell phones in your love story. The principle that makes the fairy-tale spirit come alive is keeping sacred things sacred.

…Protecting the sacred is part of God’s pattern. When sacred things are protected, marriages thrive, churches thrive, and culture thrives. The same is true for femininity. When sacred things are protected, feminine beauty and dignity are the natural by-product.
- Leslie Ludy, 2010