The Power of Love ...

It’s amazing how love can change you …

When I was a kid, I remember moments when my parents were happy … truly happy …
And … I remember moments when happiness was far away … far, far away …

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized the ‘genetics’ or the ‘DNA’ that I’ve been given, and I’ve learned those good ‘genes’ and the not so good ‘genes’ …

I believe my parents did the best they could … they loved us and they tried to love each other …

I don’t blame ANY of my behaviors, choices, or actions on my youth, or my parents … however, I do recognize, from my youth, those things that I saw, those moments where life was all but a happy ‘American Dream’ … I saw in my parents relationship, what I didn’t want to become in those moments… I realized what I wanted to avoid when I met the person I would spend the rest of my life with …

When I met my husband … I thought the love he had for me and the love I had for him could help make me become the person that I always knew I could be … however, it wasn’t that easy when we said ‘I Do’ … I had to confront the very things I never wanted to admit were a part of me …

But … the amazing thing is … although life hasn’t been peaches and cream, and there have been many ups and downs, HIS love has changed me … it has made me a better person … it has helped me become that person that I wanted to be so long ago … sure, I’m still a work in progress, but aren’t we all?

Through the LOVE of my husband … I have learned and continue to learn how much God loves me … He gave me a man who not only loves me in the good times, but also in the not so good times …

So, in the midst of a world ‘falling out of love’ … realize that love … can forever change you, if you truly let it …

Let Love In ...

If I may be so bold, I’d like to pose a couple of questions to you all, my ‘blog friends’ … they are questions, that perhaps might evoke some emotion, but they’re questions that I’d LOVE to hear your thoughts on … so, here goes:

Why do you think people judge others?
Do we have the right to judge another person?
What ever happened to LOVING someone first?

I must say … I’ve been pondering these questions the past few days … I’ve found that throughout my life, personally, I’ve been a ‘judger’ so to speak … perhaps not so much consciously, but more so because I thought something should be one way and not another … or I thought I was right, while the other person was wrong … when all along, I lacked the capacity to accept that someone else had an opinion! I think this was more in my youth … when I was in middle school, into my freshmen and sophomore year in high school …when I was naive and just ‘learning’ what it all meant to have a relationship with Christ …

However, as I’ve gotten older, my focus has become, not whether someone is right or wrong, but whether they are loved or not … perhaps that sounds a little strange, but, as I’ve learned more about the ‘heart of Christ’, I’ve learned that He just LOVES us, right where we’re at … He loves us even in our darkest days … He loves us when we’re sinning … He even loves us when we turn our backs on Him … and while that breaks my heart, I realize that I lack the way He loves others, many times … I wish I could love like Christ in moments where my anger gets the better of me … or I feel a ‘judgment’ coming into thought about someone … I wish that it was easy to LOVE at all times … but that’s where our human nature interrupts and invades … yet, I pose a challenge to those out there who call themselves ‘lovers of Christ’, including myself … instead of passing judgment on someone FIRST, why don’t you try LOVING them FIRST … Love them like Christ loves them … give them grace and show mercy, just as Christ has done so many times for you and I … it might be something as simple as a smile, or maybe it would require you to take a leap of faith, but do it! Do it today, and just let LOVE in ... when you can be overcome by the love that Christ has for you, you can then become 'in love' with those around you ... even when you don't agree with their lifestyle … even when their sin blinds them … practice LOVE first …

Someone to Love...

Haven’t written much in a while…I guess time hasn’t permitted…although, sometimes, I think that’s my excuse…sometimes I’m filled with MANY excuses!

Nonetheless, I’m thinking about love, relationships, friendship, and time…seemingly different things, yet intertwined in a way that is so very beautiful…love is perhaps the most important; it ties the other three together…without love, what are relationships and friendships? Without time, how can you have relationships and friendships, which then spawn love to come from them?

I don’t know…I think we all need someone to love…we all want someone to love us, right? I think so…isn’t that what Jesus intended for us all along? To love one another and in turn, be loved? It doesn’t matter what color you are, it doesn’t matter what class you are, it doesn’t matter if how tall or short you are, we ALL simply, want to be loved…we all need to be loved! If we could only grasp onto what Jesus so meticulously embodied, perhaps the world could be a better place…PERHAPS, we could have better relationships and friendships, and bring love and valued time to those very people that are important to each of us…