What does it mean to be a lover?

The following is an extract from the book, Chicken Soup for the Couple's Soul. This specific article is written by one of the authors, Barbara De Angelis, Ph.D.

What does it mean to be a lover? It is more than just being married to or making love to someone. Millions of people are married, millions of people have sex- but few are real lovers. To be a real lover, you must commit to and participate in a perpetual dance of intimacy with your partner.
You are a lover when you appreciate the gift that your partner is, and celebrate that gift every day.
You are a lover when you remember that your partner does not belong to you- he or she is on loan from the universe.
You are a lover when you realize that nothing that happens between you will be insignificant, that everything you say in the relationship has the potential to cause your beloved joy or sorrow, and everything you do will either strengthen your connection or weaken it.
You are a lover when you understand all this, and thus wake up each morning filled with gratitude that you have another day in which to love and enjoy your partner.
When you have a lover in your life, you are richly blessed. You have been given the gift of another person who has chosen to walk beside you. He or she will share your days and your nights, your bed and your burdens. Your lover will see secret parts of you that no one else sees. He or she will touch places on your body that no one else touches. Your lover will seek you out where you have been hiding, and create a haven for you within safe, loving arms.
Your lover offers you an abundance of miracles every day. He has the power to delight you with his smile, his voice, the scent of his neck, the way he moves. She has the power to banish your lonliness. He has the power to turn the ordinary into sublime. She is your doorway to heaven here on earth.

Across the years

I will walk with you-

in deep, green forests;

on shores of sand;

and when our time

on earth is through

in heaven, too,

you will have,

my hand.

-Robert Sexton