Pretty neat, huh? This fun filled day got me thinking about that wonderful 4-lettered word. What is love exactly? What does it mean to love someone? How do you show your love? How do you know you are loved? What are your thoughts on the matter?
Saturday, November 9, 2013
Sunday Reflections: LOVE
A few days back I had a great day with my family. We were all raking the piles and piles of leaves in our backyard, completely daunted by the task, when my wife had a fun idea. We should spell something with the leaves! We weren't sure if it would work, or what we should spell, so we just kept raking away. Then it hit us, we should spell "LOVE"! We already kinda had an "L" by accident, why not finish it off? Well anyway, here is the result:
Love is about devotion to me. I love my wife and am very devoted to her as she is with me too which is way she put up with my hobby and dorkness. : )
ReplyDeleteThat is HUGE John! I don't think you can really claim to love someone unless you are fully devoted to them. My wife is devoted to me and puts up with my dorky ways. I only hope I am returning the favor with my full devotion to her.
DeletePandora's box, Mason!
ReplyDeleteBut what I can say beyond the obvious of 1 John 4 is that this afternoon I spent hauling stuff out of my garage to give away because it's not something my husband is into (Newsflash: Not everyone is a hoarder) God spoke clearly to me this morning and it was about love..... He said to my spirit that love would get rid of anything that bothered another person. Love isn't about how I can compromise or try to organize junk better..... I just need to release it. Writing this out now, it's hitting me that it wasn't just about the dynamic between me and my husband but about how truly dead to this world and all it offers am I?.... Lately, I've plugged myself back into "life support" and have had too much of an affair with this world and all it's passing treasures..... But His grace abounds and He turns me back around.
As I write this, my husband is at his second job that he recently took. That's 75 hours a week so that he can give his children what they need. And he refused to let me take a job because like he says, "You be with the kids, I'll be the ox. I'm built for it." Now THAT is love.... Love is giving to someone else at your own expense. Lust is taking from someone else at their expense. I choose love.
And I LOVE this reflection! I could go on and on and on........
I'm totally quoting you here Laura:
Delete"Love is giving to someone else at your own expense. Lust is taking from someone else at their expense."
That is genius, I love it! The world teaches that we aught to only build relationships so we can gain from it. God teaches us to love and build others, not selfishly use them. That takes sacrifice! The Lord knows my wife puts up with my junk. She's a true nerd, but not so much a nerd for some of the things I'm into. I've been wanting to put together a big ol' garage sale to make room and beatify our living space and I do it all for my true love. :)
If only I were that wise, Mason ;) I hear that often at our church. I go to a "Man" church where Ed Cole (Maximized Manhood) was my pastor's mentor. The congregation is 50% men and there's a lot of teaching and redirecting over the issue of love. The world has perverted it so much, we really have to be retaught through His Word what it really is.
DeleteHave an awesome day! I just couldn't take credit where credit wasn't due. :)
Love is looking past the annoyances, getting through the hard parts, all while serving the loved one. It's both a difficult and easy thing to do. How easy it is to feel love in those special moments of carefree happiness and then difficult to give or feel love when tired , disagreeing, or under stress.
ReplyDeleteI think we need to constantly need to expand our capacity to love and fill those love reserves so that we will have that to fall back on. Remember why we are cleaning, cooking, working, visiting, serving, helping, crying, laughing, providing, and all of the other things. Take the time to notice the sacrifice, time, energy, and love shown to us as well.
Love is everything. Love is why we do what we do , or do anything for that matter. Let's just make sure that what we love is what matters.
Well said Lindsey! It can be hard to love someone when you're in a bad mood of upset with the one you love. When I think of how much my Heavenly Father loves me despite how horribly flawed I am it helps me love others even when I'm cranky. I definitely need to work on expanding my capacity to love! It is something everyone can and should work on every day. The world would be a better place if we all strived for that.
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