"If you’re looking for the word that means caring for someone beyond all rationality and wanting them to have everything they want no matter how much it destroys you, it’s love! And when you love someone, you just don’t stop. Ever. Even when people roll their eyes, or call you crazy, even then, especially then!" - Ted Mosby, Season 9: Episode 17
No where else have I seen such an accurate description for love. There are so many different kinds of love and I think this one quote covers them all. When you truly love someone you don't think of yourself as much as you think of them and their happiness. Love is irrational that way. Don't agree with that definition of love? Well, maybe you aren't looking at the right places. As humans we can't love people properly. We sin and we make mistakes. But Jesus showed us love in the perfect form. Jesus showed us love that is irrational. It didn't make sense for Jesus to love us but that didn't stop him. Jesus paid the price for us because he wanted it all for us even though it cost him greatly. And Jesus never stopped loving us - not ever. Jesus taught us about love originally but How I Met Your Mother (HIMYM) reprises that teaching and teaches all people what love truly should be like.
"Because sometimes even if you know how something’s gonna end that doesn't mean you can’t enjoy the ride." - Ted Mosby, Season 2: Episode 14
Life is often unpredictable but sometimes it is not. We know that certain things will come to an end. We know on our freshman year of college that four years from now it will all be over. We could choose to not engage with it because it will be over eventually. That certainly is an easier route. It hurts less to do that. But just because something will end doesn't mean we can't enjoy the time we have with it. Life is better when you engage in it and HIMYM teaches us that.
"The littlest thing can cause a ripple effect that changes your life." - Ted Mosby, Season 2: Episode 15
It is amazing to me looking back at my life how one person, one conversation, one place can so drastically alter the course of my life. For instance, six years ago I met a girl named Zoe. She told me about Eagle Brook Church (EBC). At the time my family was looking for a new church so we went for Christmas services. We continued going there and have been attending there for over five years. It was because of EBC that I became a follower of Christ, decided to pursue a degree in pastoral ministry, first stepped onto the UNW campus, joined youth group, led a small group of middle school girls, and have gone on two out of my three mission trips. Zoe led me to EBC and that has changed my life dramatically. From where we are standing we often cannot see how our current actions will affect our future but looking back we can better realize the effects of our actions.This show reminds us of that.
"Look, you can’t design your life like a building. It doesn't work that way. You just have to live it… and it’ll design itself." - Lily Aldrin, Season 4: Episode 24
As much as we try to plan out our lives for ourselves things never look how we think they will - whether that is for better or for worse. People come into our lives and change things. Opportunities come into our lives and change things. Disaster comes into our lives and change things. We can't write in pen in our planners because when it comes down to it things will change. We just have to trust that everything will be alright in the end and learn to take things as they come. How I Met Your Mother is a show filled with the unexpected and none of their lives go exactly as planned.
"You can’t just skip ahead to where you think your life should be." - Lily Aldrin, Season 5: Episode 20
We often get to places in our lives that we just want to skip. For instance in the show Ted often wants to skip the 'looking for someone amazing' part and just get to the 'found someone amazing' part. As a romantic, I often identify with Ted. But that's not how it works. We have to experience the scars and the waiting in order to truly appreciate the 'someone amazing' when they come around. This rings true for everything in life I think. I used to have thoughts about what it will be like when I finally get to move to New Orleans but if I just skipped to that part of my life I would miss out on the amazing college experience I am getting now at UNW. We can't spend our time wanting to skip parts of our lives because you never know what you may be missing. So rather then spending your time waiting, engage in your life now. You may find it to be the best time of your life simply because you changed your attitude towards it. So many people need to hear this and so I think HIMYM really does well to talk about it.
"The future is scary but you can’t just run back to the past because it’s familiar." - Robin Scherbatsky, Season 6: Episode 24
Looking towards the unknown can be frightening. The past is familiar. That's why we turn to it. But that is often not good for us. No matter how hard it is we have to keep moving forward and not look back towards the past simply because it is comfortable. You never know what beautiful thing could be waiting for you in your future. How I Met Your Mother reminds us to keep looking towards the future and to lean in to the unknown.
"If you’re not scared, you’re not taking a chance. And if you’re not taking a chance, then what the hell are you doing?" - Ted Mosby, Season 5: Episode 1
Life involves risk. A lot of people are scared of risk because they cling to the times when they took a risk and things didn't work out but the best things in life often come out of us taking a risk. Asking that girl / boy out, applying for that job, going to that college, going on that trip, etc. Everything worth having is worth taking a risk for. It may not always work out but at least you tried. Sirius Black once said "what is life without a little risk?" How I Met Your Mother tells us it is okay to be scared and that we must take chances.
"Whatever you do in this life, it's not legendary, unless your friends are there to see it." - Barney Stinson, Season 9: Episode 17
Friends make life complicated but they also make it more meaningful. You can be successful in the world's eyes but if you don't have people who you care about you there when you do something amazing then it isn't worth much. HIMYM showed the value of friendship throughout the series and what we learn in the series can be summed up pretty well in this one sentence.
Additional Quotes
"So really the biggest mistake would be not to make that mistake, because then you’ll go your whole life not knowing if something was a mistake or not." - Lily Aldrin, Season 1: Episode 21
"We gotta wait for the real thing, no matter how tough it gets" - Ted Mosby, Season 7: Episode 11
"The great moments of your life won’t necessarily be the things you do; they’ll also be the things that happen to you." - Ted Mosby, Season 4: Episode 22
"We spend so much effort trying to keep parts of our lives hidden, even from our closest friends, that in those rare times when we do open up, it's amazing how minor those secrets all end up being." - Ted Mosby, Season 1: Episode 15
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