The Love Chronicles ~ Psalm 145:20

"The Lord preserves all who love Him,

But all the wicked He will destroy." ~Psalm 145:20

So, yeah, at the end of a long year? Perseverance is a big thing. 

Finally. Year's end. After all the accomplishments, failures, disappointments, and achievements: we made it.

And at the end of it? The only reason we can persevere is because He preserves. 

Preserved us through that trial we thought would swallow us whole. 

Preserved us through that relationship we thought would destroy us. 

Preserved us through the long nights & never-ending days. 

Preserved us through the indecision, ingratitude, incompleteness. 

And how did He preserve us? Through love. Love for us. Out of our love for Him. So on this eve of a new year, what better gift can we give than love? 

Love for the co-worker who drives us up the wall.

Love for the family member who makes us ponder our own sanity. 

Love for the unlovable. 

Love for the forgotten. 

Love for this new year and all the wonders, sadness, and craziness it will bring. 

Love for Him. Love for each other. Only through love will we, can we persevere. 

"There are Far Better Things Ahead - Than Any We Leave Behind" ~Thoughts on Turning the Big 3-0.

Dreading turning thirty has been in the back of my mind roughly since I was fifteen. Fifteen seemed such a mile marker to me - the ability to drive a car, provided there was another adult with me. The world was my oyster - freedom was just a key turn away. I remember feeling so young & free & like I could conquer the world. Thirty seemed so very old.

 

I had such a very long list of things I wanted to accomplish before turning thirty. Thirty to me was the death knell of all things fun & freedom-related where I had to be frumpy & serious & adult-like all the time. I wish I'd kept that list, but I remember certain items: become a published author, go scuba diving in the Caribbean, be a hard-hitting, award-winning journalist, live somewhere like New York City so I could be like Meg Ryan in "You've Got Mail." 

This morning, I woke up, and I was thirty. Like I do on every birthday, I waited to feel older, different. And I didn't. I never do. But I've been sitting on my back porch with a cup of coffee for the past hour and a half, and I've reached several realizations I'd like to share:

1.) Thank God being a teenager is over & done with. Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen...those were the be-all & end-all numbers. I defined myself by them. By what society told me I was supposed to be like by then. I thought I had it all figured out, and I had no idea how little I really knew. I teach teenagers now, all day every day, and I'm constantly reminded of myself. 

Seriously - nerd. 

2.) Thank goodness for the end of cliques and "cool crowds." In high school, I was as low on the totem pole of coolness as you could get. College was more of the same. There are the sports people, the hipster people, the nature people, the musicians, the beautiful people...and the nerds. But I was a special kind of nerd - possessing little confidence to participate in conversations for fear of looking stupid, so I was a fringe-nerd, feeling as if I belonged nowhere. I recently realized that, as an adult, I'm friends with people who would have either completely ignored or belittled my existence in high school or college, but it's OK now because instead of focusing on the differences, we focus on our friendship. I have nerd friends, cool friends, sports friends, beautiful friends, musician friends, & nature friends now. I, who spent most of my time alone making mixed music cassette tapes & reading. 

Yep - overalls, bangs...*sigh*

3.) Praise the Lord for lifelong girlfriends. Growing up, there were times I thought I'd never have a true friend, a best buddy, someone who would still be my friend when times got tough & tempers flared & my true inner-nerd emerged. But there have been two, & I don't know how I would have made it without them. We've faced some of the best & worst that life had to offer, but I think I can safely say we can make it through anything now. 

 

 

4.) When I was growing up, I would dream about my future husband. I worried, like the prince in "Ever After," that I would never find the one person in this world I was supposed to. I worried that I would miss him, that I would never meet him, that I would completely screw up this whole courtship/dating thing & scare off any possible mate. And I needn't have. I met him in the best way possible: we were friends. Just good friends, then best friends, then something more. All the years I spent worrying, & he came along just when God wanted him to.

5.) Changes are good things. I used to think changes in plans were the worst possible thing that could happen. It meant failure. It meant starting all over. Now I know that changes can bring about some of the best life experiences one can have. Changing my college major from journalism to teaching was terrifying and something I'd said I would never do. But it's been one of the best decisions I could have made. I love my job, love my students, love the experiences. Changing colleges at the last minute was terrifying, but through it, I met my future husband and my best friend. Changes aren't bad. Through them, some of God's greatest gifts can be found. 

6.) I have lived almost all my life feeling inferior - beauty-wise, talent-wise, intelligence-wise. If there is one huge benefit I see to turning thirty, it's that I don't care to feel inferior anymore, I'm going to do my best not to let it happen, & if people don't like me for who I am, well, they don't have to be around me anymore. I'm tired of comparing. I'm tired of living in fear. I'm tired of not having joy. Because when I'm busy comparing, I'm too busy to notice the blessings all around me, the little things, the laughter, all these memories that make up this crazy journey called life. I want to live with my eyes wide open. I want to soak it all in, drink it all up. 

So maybe I'll read this when I turn forty and think, "Man, what did I know then?" Probably. Oh, well. I'm a work in progress. And that's OK. 

The Love Chronicles ~ Psalm 119:165

Psalm 119:165

"Great peace have those who love Your law,

And nothing causes them to stumble." 

"Peace." 

What does that word mean to you? 

For me, it's a bit of a foreign word. When I say it, it feels strange on my tongue...because I say it so rarely and feel it even more rarely. 

"Peace." If I close my eyes and concentrate real hard, I conjure up images of "peace": a still, starry night, water lapping gently on the lake shore, a butterfly floating gently on the breeze among the flowers in the front yard, a lazy picnic lunch on a blanket in the middle of a field. "Peace."

But those moments seem so rare. So elusive. So hard to find and even harder to capture in memory to recall during the crazy, hectic, breakneck speed of everyday life. 

Why is peace so hard to find? 

Why can't I be like the lilies of the field, the birds of the air? 

Why is there always so much preying on my mind, my heart, my soul? 

If I was to re-word this verse and apply it to my everyday life, it would probably read something like, "Great distress, unrest, and worry have those who live life, and everything causes them to freak out." 

But maybe that's just it: we get so caught up in "living life" - the bills, the laundry, the dishes, the grocery shopping, the daily grind, the errands, the housework, the appearing at social functions, the hobbies - that we are forgetting the whole point of life in the first place. The reason we're here. What's meant to keep us going. "LOVE the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind" and "LOVE your neighbor as yourself." 

The whole point is love. The whole law can be summed up in one word: LOVE! 

And when I'm stressed and busy and pulled in fifty million different directions at once? Where is there room for love? Where is there room for peace? There's no room because I haven't prioritized it. I haven't put it at the top of my ever-growing To Do List. 

Yes, laundry is a necessity, but will the whole world implode if I never have completely empty laundry baskets downstairs? 

Yes, dishes are needed, but will I be arrested if there are always a few dishes drying in the rack or waiting to be washed on the counter? 

Yes, I need to keep my house so that it's not unsanitary to live in, but Better Homes & Gardens isn't coming to do a photo shoot anytime soon. 

I put so much stress on myself. So much unnecessary stress. I stress the things that don't really matter & that no one's going to care two cents about at the end of my life and forget to invest in the moments that matter. 

"Great peace have those who love Your law" - the Law of Loving. That's all it is. Not some unattainable list of do's and don'ts, but a law of loving as many people as I can as much as I can. 

And here's the promise: "Nothing causes them to stumble." 

Not the unfolded laundry. Not the unscrubbed shower. Not the imperfect flower bed. 

No guilt. No worry. No fear. 

Nothing can cause me to stumble when my eyes are fixed on the One guiding me Home.  

The Love Chronicles ~ Psalm 119:97

 

Psalm 119:97

"Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day."

 

There are times when I feel like David wrote these Psalms just to make me feel puny.

 

This verse is one of those times.

 

I would consider myself a pretty law-abiding, rule-following citizen. The term "goody-two-shoes" has been used to describe me more than once. But even I don't go dancing about, singing praises to the rules.

 

That's not our nature. Our human nature does not desire or seek rules. No one is going to go around singing about manmade rules. But these aren't just any laws in this verse: these are GOD'S laws.

 

He doesn't make rules and boundaries to make our lives miserable - He gives them to protect us, usually from ourselves.

 

This isn't the Old Testament law that we're loving so much - this is the new law, the new covenant, the law of love and grace. We should meditate on it, think on it. All. Day. Long.

 

There's no room for pettiness or anger or bitterness when we're making a conscious effort to Think. On. Him. To live like Him. To love like Him.

 

What is the law of the Lord?

 

It is "PERFECT, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is SURE, making wise the simple; the statutes of the Lord are RIGHT, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is PURE, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is CLEAN, enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are TRUE and RIGHTEOUS altogether" (Psalm 19:7-9).

 

That's what I should meditate on: perfection, surety, righteousness, purity, cleanliness, truth.

 

Will I ever attain it? Of course not.

 

Should that stop me from trying?

 

My goal for each day should be to convert souls - the unsaved & my own.

 

How many times do I make a decision based on selfishness, pride, vanity, laziness?

 

"Conversion" isn't just saving souls from Hell; it's converting myself - training myself - to look at things, people, situations through His eyes.

 

My goal for each day should be surety - being wise in my decisions and speech so I don't have to make amends for foolishness.

 

My goal for each day should be making the right choice - it brings rejoicing to His heart and my own.

 

My goal for each day should be purity - bringing light and clarity to people's eyes instead of the darkness of confusion, sarcasm, jealousy, and selfishness.

 

My goal for each day should be cleanliness - investing in things that will last forever, not the temporal, unclean things of this life, the things that one day I'll blink & they'll be gone.

 

My goal for each day should be truth & righteousness - not the lies and distractions Satan sends my way. The lies that keep me unfocused from life & the great things, the blessings, God has in store for me.

 

These are my laws.

This is my meditation.

 





If Winter Comes, Can Spring Be Far Behind?

 

I woke up this morning, & it was spring. Not sure how that happened. You'd think with all my belly-aching for months about the cold weather & gray skies that I would notice spring before it just suddenly...well...sprung upon me. Maybe there's a deeper meaning in the name of this season.

 

I can always tell when spring is here because the road behind our house disappears. On our little street, we're the house closest to the road, & during the winter months, when the tree limbs are bare of leaf and bird and bud, the road is quite visible.

It doesn't bother me too much, except when headlights are too bright.

 

But when spring is here, the road vanishes, & if I only look out my back door, I can make believe there's no one else for miles, that I'm tucked away safely in my cocoon, and that no one can touch me.

 

 

A lifelong introvert, I enjoy this feeling of safety, of anonymity, of being invisible. It's how I felt for so many years, even among friends & family: invisible. I tried to be an extrovert. Honest. But opening yourself up to people leaves room for getting hurt. Relationships aren't my safe cocoon. They're messy, unorganized, and spontaneous. Get hurt often enough, and it gets old quick. You know that, don't you? We've all been there: the crossroads of do I protect myself, or do I reach out?

 

 

How much rejection can one heart take?

 

 

How many tears can one set of eyes shed?

 

 

We set up a front of armor: indifference. You think that hurt me? Ha! My skin's thicker than that. But inside, we hurt, we bleed, we cry. The human spirit is fragile, a bud trying desperately to burst into bloom while all around it the frigid winds of winter's last gusts blow.

 

 

That happens to me every spring. I think it's warm for good, I plant flowers outside, and then one more frost sets in and kills everything. So it is with people; so it is with relationships. A person is fragile, a bud tentatively testing the surrounding atmosphere, testing if it's safe to come out, to make relationships, to burst into bloom.

There are gusts of frozen wind, icy blasts of cold shoulders, hurtful words, withheld love, ignored olive branches. A flower can only withstand so much before withering & dying.
 

Budding relationships need the warm sunlight of love to encourage them, help them grow, give them courage to spread their arms wide in the full bloom of loving and being loved in return. Yes, it's safer to wrap ourselves in our cocoon, to shut ourselves off from the world, to never allow ourselves to be hurt. But look at all that is missed: friendships, laughter, sorrow, growth.
 

That's what it all comes back to: growing. Not remaining stagnant in our faith but growing. Do you remember growing pains? Most of middle school seemed to be consumed with doctor's visits for me where I was convinced I was dying, but the doctor simply told me the same thing every time: "It's just growing pains." Just as our young bodies cannot grow without some uncomfortableness & unpleasantness, so relationships can't growth without a little pain, a lot of honesty, and a willing to get one's hands dirty.
 

The apostle Paul said it beautifully in Ephesians 4, "... that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love" (verses 14-16).
 

We are meant to work together, meant to grow together. No one is an island. But we must encourage one another. No one wants to reach out knowing the result will always be one of indifference.
 

To quote Simon & Garfunkel: "A rock feels no pain, and an island never cries." Perhaps that's so, but a rock is also too hard to hug, and an island can be lonely & deserted. We can harden ourselves, isolate ourselves, shut ourselves off from the world, but not without consequence to ourselves. We can turn our tentative bud of a soul into a desert.

I planted a flower last spring, and though I watered it daily, by the end of the summer, it looked completely dead. A mound of red fire ants had built a mountain practically on top of it, and it just looked like a dead stick poking out of my lawn. Chalking another casualty up to my black thumb of death, I went on with my day.
 

Just today, I walked outside and saw a tiny bloom opening where the dead plant had been. I'm not at all sure if there is some perfectly reasonable gardening explanation for this, or if this is a little miracle flower God sent my way today. But whatever the reason, it serves a wonderful reminder: even through the coldest winter (and this last was one of our coldest on record), even when all appearance of life is gone, a bud can be hiding beneath the surface, ready to pop into sight, burst into bloom. All hope can seem lost, all resources seemingly exhausted, but God can make a bud bloom anywhere.

It's not too late.
 

Don't be afraid.
 

Don't wrap up in your safe cocoon of isolation and fear. Your desert of loneliness.
 

Take a leap. Unfurl those petals, even in the coldest wind.
 

Bloom. Prosper. Grow.

The Love Chronicles ~ Psalm 91:14

 

 

Psalm 91

 

"He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High

Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say of the Lord, 'He is my refuge and my fortress;

My God, in Him I will trust.'

Surely He shall deliver you from the snare

of the fowler

And from the perilous pestilence.

He shall cover you with His feathers,

And under His wings you shall take refuge;

His truth shall be your shield and buckler.

You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,

Nor of the arrow that flies by day,

Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,

Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.

A thousand may fall at your side,

And ten thousand at your right hand;

But it shall not come near you.

Only with your eyes shall you look,

And see the reward of the wicked.

Because you have made the Lord, who is

my refuge,

Even the Most High, your dwelling place,

No evil shall befall you,

Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;

For He shall give His angels charge over you,

To keep you in all your ways.

In their hands they shall bear you up,

Lest you dash your foot against a stone.

You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra,

The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.

Because he has set his love upon Me,

therefore I will deliver him;

I will set him on high, because he has

known My Name.

He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him;

I will be with him in trouble;

I will deliver him and honor him.

With long life I will satisfy him,

And show him My salvation."

 

 

This is my favorite Psalm of all time. Obviously. I posted the whole thing instead of just one verse. The idea of reading just one verse out of the other 16 seemed sacrilegious. This Psalm is such a wonderful example of cause-and-effect that the verses seem to be a package deal; you can't read one and get the full meaning without the others.

 

The first thing that really stands out to me about this Psalm is how many promises there are. The Psalmist uses the words "shall" or "will" 20 times! More times than there are verses in the entire Psalm! And he backs them up with words like "surely" for emphasis!

 

This Psalm is such a wonderful bundle of promises that one can't help but be encouraged when reading it. Our God is a God who keeps His promises. Nowhere in this Psalm does it say "maybe" or "possibly" or "might." These are concrete verbs; God is going to follow through.

 

How do we reap the blessings of God's promises? Verse 1 lays it out pretty clearly: "He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High..." Not feeling overly blessed lately? Where have you been dwelling? So many times in my life I've wanted to know why God seemed so far away, and I realized I wasn't pitching my tent anywhere near Him. I was off doing my own thing, living how I wanted to live, and then was fussing that God wasn't unleashing blessings on me!

 

So then what? A Christian's life will be perfect? I wish! But the difference is astounding: When evil befalls the wicked, they feel lost, alone, and helpless. They have no one to help them or bear them up. But look at the wonderful promise in Verse 15: "He shall call upon Me, and I WILL answer him; I WILL be with him in trouble; I WILL deliver him and [WILL] honor him." When trouble comes a-knockin' at our doors, the difference is that We. Are. Not. Alone.

 

Praise the Lord!

 

We don't have to face the darkness, the fear, the uncertainty, the trouble alone. If we are dwelling in Him, He should be the first One we call in times of distress. And He WILL answer! No doubt about it! No busy signal. No "I'm too busy." No voicemail. We have a hotline directly to the throne room of God, and He will come the moment we call! 

 

He might not always give us the answer we want. We might want to be delivered completely from the trouble, and He might tell us we have to walk through it, but the good news is: We. Don't. Have. To. Walk. Alone. He will be right by our side, protecting, encouraging, and carrying us when necessary. He will deliver us.

 

Deliver us from the evil one.

 

Deliver us from the pit.

 

Fellow travelers may be falling all around us. Traveling in their own strength. Dwelling in the secret place of their own accomplishments. Dwelling in their self-righteousness. Dwelling in their own strength.

 

When will we learn: we only succeed when we give up? Give up ourselves. Give up our plans. Give up our pride. And dwell in Him. Dwell in His arms. His safety. His strength. Why do we want to do things on our own when we have Someone so much bigger, stronger, and wiser to help us along the way? Dwell in the secret place of the Most High. There is no one higher or more powerful. Rest in that thought today, friend.

 

    



The Love Chronicles ~ Psalm 45:7

 

 

Psalm 45:7

"You love righteousness and hate wickedness;

Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You

With the oil of gladness more than Your companions."

 

 

I had to think about this verse for awhile. This Psalm is a wedding Psalm, read at weddings, celebrating human marriage. But it's also an analogy for the groom, King Jesus, and His bride, us, His church. At first, I wasn't sure if there was anything too applicable for everyday life - maybe this is just a nice Psalm to read on your wedding day. But, praise the Lord, He helped me see it with new eyes.

 

As a bride on our wedding day, we do feel "anointed." Anointed with love, happiness, joy, hope for the future...a bride on her wedding day is in love with all things good, lovely, righteous in the world.

 

And a bride has an extra glow about her on her wedding day - she is and should be the most beautiful woman in the room. She has been anointed "with the oil of gladness" more than her "companions."

 

The church, made up of all of us - Christians, should be the same way. We should love righteousness and hate wickedness.

 

Hate wickedness but NOT the evil-doer. Jesus is to be our example. Jesus loved the outcasts just as much as the "accepted" - tax collectors, prostitutes, divorcees, the afflicted.

 

Every time I see pictures of people from Westboro Baptist Church, I want to be sick. "God Hates You," "God Is Your Enemy," "You're Going to Hell." Of course, the nut jobs get the most media attention, creating a skewed worldview of the church.

 

How does telling someone God hates them show a desire for loving righteousness?

 

Jesus didn't picket the Samaritan woman's well. He wasn't the enemy of Zaccheus. There's nothing loving about telling someone God hates them.

 

God. Hates. Self-Righteousness. And. Hypocrisy. Just. As. Much. As. Any. Other. Sin.

 

Loving righteousness also means loving the sinner.

 

Our arms should be open in love, not raised in a fist.

 

The bride, the church, US - the church is made up of US.

 

Stop looking at the church with fingers pointed. An old pastor of mine used to say, "When you point a finger at someone else, you always have three more pointed back at yourself."

 

The church is made up of individuals, and I am one of them. You are one of them. If we want to see change in the church, we must first begin to examine and change ourselves.

 

And what will be the result?

 

"Therefore..."

 

This is a huge arrow, a bridge connecting cause and effect. We should love righteousness and hate wickedness. And what will happen then?

 

We will be anointed by God Himself with the oil of gladness.

 

Love, true, godly love, produces gladness, produces joy.

 

What kind of church are people going to want to learn more about? The one that shows them love, that accepts them just as they are, not condoning the sin yet loving the sinner, which All. Of. Us. Are?

 

Or the one angrily raising fists, yelling, judging, jeering, condemning?

 

Which produces gladness? Which produces joy?

 

We desire His joy and blessing in our lives, but in order to have this result, we must first fulfill the first part: love righteousness, hate wickedness. Not being so filled with self-righteousness we become the wickedness.

 

And before we start to point out the wickedness in others, we must first confront and deal with the wickedness in ourselves.

 

 





The Love Chronicles ~ Psalm 31:23

 

 

Psalm 31:23

 

"Oh, love the Lord, all you His saints!

For the Lord preserves the faithful,

And fully repays the proud person."

 

 

I love it when God reminds me I'm His saint. For so long, for so much of my life, all I have dwelt on and focused on have been my shortcomings, my faults, my imperfections.

 

I had this idea about humility - that in order to be truly humble, I had to constantly put myself down, never accept compliments, always talk about my bad points.

 

And over the years, this evolved into self-hatred. I literally hated everything about myself: my looks, my weight, my grades, my inability to make friends (gee, I wonder why that was?), my entire life. Everything was wrong. I set ridiculously high standards for myself that absolutely no one could attain.

 

But then the negativity about my life bled over into negativity about others' lives.

 

I became critical of everyone and everything around me. I wasn't acting like a saint; I wasn't even acting like a nice person.

 

I was so focused on me trying not to focus on me, I ironically fell into the very trap I was going to such great lengths to avoid.

 

And that's what false humility is: disguised selfishness. We think it's genuine humility, but look where the focus is: me, myself, & I.

 

Bu this verse calls us saints. Not wannabes. Not keep-tryings. God looks down and sees His Son in us; we are His SAINTS.

 

Not through any good we have shown, but through the goodness and love of His Son living in us.

 

And what should our response be? What else could it be? LOVE!!!

 

LOVE for the God Who does not condemn us.

 

LOVE for the God Who doesn't love us conditionally.

 

LOVE for the God Who knew we weren't saints, yet made us saints by His Son.

 

How could our response be anything but Love?

 

Who, when they've been offered a free, underserved gift, could respond with anything less? If He loves us this much, how can we not unashamedly love Him back?

 

And as if that weren't enough, the Psalmist gives us an extra reason: "For He preserves the faithful."

 

I like that word: preserves. It makes me think of a photo - preserving the moment. Or canning fruits for the winter - preserving it for later.

 

The Lord knows we can't be faithful on our own, in our own strength. I can't be faithful for 5 minutes, let alone a lifetime. So He does the work for us; He preserves us.

 

He takes us, with Christ living inside us, and preserves us, protects us. And the funny part is: He's preserving us and protecting us because We. Can't. Do. It. Ourselves. We keep trying, but we'll never be able to do it.

 

We're hopeless without Him.

 

All that false humility, trying in our own strength? Futile. Worthless. Hopeless.

 

The verse doesn't say He preserves the perfect or the flawless or the most humble - He preserves the faithful - the ones who keep trying and failing and falling and trying some more. The ones who weep on their faces when they don't have the strength to take one more step. The ones who wear out their knees with prayer. The ones who know they're not perfect, can never be perfect, yet are OK in their imperfections.

 

Will they keep striving? Yes! Will they reach it? No!  But it's OK - "LOVE the Lord, you His saints, for HE preserves the faithful."

 

HE is doing the hard part for us! HE is doing the preserving! All we are commanded to do is LOVE! We have the easy part! A photo doesn't preserve itself. It requires an outside force to tenderly frame it or put it in a photo album. I haven't done a lot of canning in my time, but one thing I do know: those fruits & vegetables sure don't can themselves. It requires a dedicated cook, willing to stand over a hot stove for several hours doing all the work.

 

All that trying to achieve things in our own strength? Pointless! HE's got it all under control already. Why does the God of the Universe need our puny little help? It's like an ant trying to help build a skyscraper.

 

All that fear? The "what-if"s? The feeling like we simply MUST take control of at least THIS? Futile. Worthless wastes of energy. We simply must Love Him.

 

And Love our neighbors.

 

And, yes, it's OK to Love ourselves: be happy with ourselves the way He made us. That number on the scale? Not important. That set of freckles on your cheeks or birthmark on your nose? He put them there. That is your signature look, straight from the hand of God. Don't hide it or change it.

 

The Lord preserves His saints. Doesn't that relieve so much pressure? It should! Stop trying in your own strength. Stop being the ant. Simply. Love. Him. And He. Will. Preserve. You.

 



 







The Love Chronicles ~ Psalm 4:2

 

 

Psalm 4:2

"How long, O you sons of men,

Will you turn my glory to shame?

How long will you love worthlessness

And seek falsehood?"

 

It's so easy for me to read the Psalms with my finger pointed.

 

It's so hard to take something so emotionally charged as a song & put ourselves in the same mindset as the author. So what usually happens when I read a Psalm is either a complete disconnect because I can't relate or I start pointing - "Yeah, sons of men, how about that? Why you gotta be that way?"

 

But something interesting happens when I just read one verse instead of the entire Psalm: perspective.

 

"How long, O you sons of men, will you turn my glory to shame?"

 

Is this David talking to the ambiguous "wicked," or is it God speaking to us?

 

Aren't we all technically sons of men? The only thing separating us from "the wicked" is simple: grace.

 

God's grace.

 

Because, not that long ago, we were the "sons of men." And it's so easy to fall back. So couldn't this verse just as easily be God speaking to us?

 

"How long, O you sons of men, will you turn my glory to shame?"

 

How often do we do that? Take the glorious message of Christ & pollute it? We are quick to anger instead of love. We judge without the full story. We condemn. We selfishly complain when we don't get a want when so many others are without basic needs.

 

And that is To. Our. Shame.

 

We are Christ's ambassadors. We are the representatives. If we don't live what we're preaching, how can we expect others to accept Him?

 

Because isn't that the goal of all of this?

 

Leading those in darkness into this marvelous Light?

 

How can we lead when our light is so smothered by anger, envy, jealousy, strife, sarcasm, dissention, arguing, and petty-ness? We take His glory & turn it to our shame.

 

"How long will you love worthlessness and seek falsehood?"

 

This is exactly what we do when we are not resting in Him, when we are not pursuing His Kingdom. We are pursuing worthlessness and seeking falsehood.

 

I've taught enough English to know: These are Action. Verbs.

 

We're not simply in this state-of-being, zen-like state and then worthlessness & falsehood seek us out - We. Are. Actively. Looking. For. Them.

 

When we are not pursing the good of the Kingdom, we're still pursuing something - and that something is worthless and false if it's not for God, if it has no eternal purpose or value.

 

But we are not without hope - when we recognize this in ourselves, there is a promise in the very next verse: "The Lord will hear when I call to Him."

 

He will not leave this son (or daughter) of man.

 

As soon as I recognize my sin - He. WILL. Hear. When. I. Call. To. Him.

 

A promise.

 

And another action verb.

 

I must actively cry out to Him.

 

He will not force me. Because love that is forced is no love at all.

 

But when I cry out, when I actively seek Him & turn my back on my worthless, false pursuits, He is quick to hear and save me.

 

Praise be to Him!

 

 







The Love Chronicles ~ Deuteronomy 6:5

 

 

Deuteronomy 6:5

"You shall love the Lord your God with

all your heart, with all your soul, and

with all your strength."

 

I have to be honest: when I first saw that this was the verse for my reading today, I almost skipped it.

 

This verse has been read so many times on so many occasions for so many reasons. Every Sunday School attendee memorizes it within the first year. I wish I could say I'm one of those people who can read a verse as if it's the first time every time. But I'm not. Sometimes reading the Bible is work.

 

It's work to look at a verse you've read over and over for over 20 years and try to see something new from it. So I almost skipped it. But then the words spoken by our school's guest speaker at chapel last week popped into my head: "If you sit down to read the Bible with the honest intention of hearing from God, you'll be amazed how quickly you hear from Him."

 

So I mustered my strength and read it again for the 111th time: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength."

 

I think I know why it's so easy to skip this verse: we know it's completely unattainable. We can never love someone this perfectly. So why try? Why would God put this verse in the Bible when He knows we'll never attain it this side of heaven? And that's when He stared speaking.

 

The first thing I heard?

 

This is another command  - "You shall." No maybes. No if-you-feel-like-its.

 

Because God knows: if we don't love Him, we'll love someone else. SomeTHING else. Work. Spouse. Children. Alcohol. Wallowing. Anger. Self-Pity.

 

There's a hole in our hearts, and we try to fill it with oh, so many things. If there's not room in our hearts for God, how can there be room for others? There is only room for self.

 



 

And that's when I heard the second thing:

 

How are we to love Him? Half-heartedly? When we have time? No!

 

With. Everything. We. Have.

 

"All  your heart, all your soul, all  your strength."

 

Because when your heart is full of love, then you have a heart to fill up with God's love, a heart that love the people God loves.

 

And. God. Loves. Everyone.

 

The atheists.

 

The liberals.

 

The gays.

 

The nerds.

 

The unlovable.

 

If our hearts are full of God's love, then we will be loving towards everyone.

 

Because when your soul is full of love, there's no room for love of self. Your soul becomes God's; your soul becomes for others.

 

You empathize; you feel their pain. Your soul aches and rejoices with theirs; there is no. Room. For Self.

 

Because when you love with all your strength, you're exhausted, poured out; you've given it all willingly, joyfully, sacrificially.

 

You have no strength for anything - except God and others.

 

And that's how it should be.

 



 





Love Chronicles ~ Leviticus 19:18

 

 

 

I haven't been able to get love out of my mind lately. And it's not residual Valentine's goopiness. I've just felt so burdened about how much the Bible tells us to love, and how little we do it. The world is already such an unloving place, we certainly don't need to be adding to the darkness. That may seem harsh or strange because, as Christians, aren't we the light? Yes! But how often do we live the Light? How many times do we look just like the ones we're trying to save? We can say all the right words, but if we're not living it, no one will believe us.

 

 

So, I've decided to start the Love Chronicles. The Bible talks about love 143 times, and I don't know if I've ever truly let that sink in. I'd like to say I'll post a Bible verse & my thoughts on it every day, but that's not realistic. Some days are just too busy. But I will be reading a verse on Love every day and writing my thoughts on it in my journal, and I will post these thoughts as often as possible.

 

 

Leviticus 19:18

"You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against

the children of your people, but you shall LOVE your

neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord."

 

 

This is a command. Not a request. Not an "if you feel like it." Not an "except when..."

 

You. Shall. NOT.

 

Ever. Never.

 

Revenge? Not an option.

 

Holding a grudge against someone? Shouldn't even enter your mind. Find another option.

 

"But, what if..."

 

"I am the Lord."

 

That puts an end to it. No arguing possible. No way around it. No excuses. The biggest period you could ever put on the end of a sentence. "I. Am. The. Lord."

 

God knows we like wriggle room, so He left us zero room for it. "I am the Lord." "You shall not."

 

Once the fleshly options are taken away, there's really only one other place to go: Love.

 

But it's more than that.

 

It's more than just a parental "Don't argue with me." It's said in so much love.

 

"I am the LORD."

 

Don't you trust Me? Don't you believe Me? Don't you know when I give you a command it's for your own good?

 

Love. Is. The. Answer.

 

Not revenge. Not holding grudges.

 

There's MORE out there. There's BETTER out there.

 

"I am the LORD."

 

Don't take the easy path. Take the bigger road, the better road - trust Me.

 

"I AM the Lord."

 

"Don't you know that if I'm giving you this command, it's for your good? For your safety? For your growth?"

 

"LOVE your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord."

 

Grudges & revenge lead to discord. Love leads to harmony.

 

Grudges lead to hurt. Love leads to healing.

 

Revenge leads to anger. Love leads to peace.

 

Grudges are me-focused. Love is neighbor-centered.

 

Believe it, Heart.

Live it, Soul.