I know I swore off social media for Passion week but technically this blog is my journal. I will post this entry to Facebook because I feel like someone needs to hear this or, can at least relate.
I don't think anything is by accident. I do believe accidents happen but there is a design to it all. I was standing in my bathroom looking into my ridiculously full closet and thought back to a conversation I had with two girlfriends that afternoon. We were talking about our desires and love to chase after the "more:" more stuff, more clothes, more house, you get the idea. We see everyone around us in these stupidly big Texas-sized homes taking these elaborate vacations wearing the perfectly styled outfit with their Pinterest snacks and crafts for their kiddos and feel like we are behind in the race. Quite frankly, we will NEVER win that race and it DOES. NOT. MATTER.
“Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other.” John 13:34-35
You know what matters? Love. As I looked into that closet thinking back on my discussion with my friends I thought about how well I have loved. Have I loved well? Do I get so wrapped up in everything else that I miss the very thing God needs me to do? Do I judge before I love? Do I grumble when God calls me to love; especially those hard to love folks? I have failed time and time again in the love-one-another department.
This week has been an absolute whirlwind but undoubtedly, God-ordained. As I walked into her hospital room it hit me square in the face: love. I wrote her a letter late the night before I left. Not coincidentally, the letter's theme was about how well she loved. She lay in her bed hooked up to way too much equipment looking far older than her years. My heart was saddened but immersed in peace when she spoke. She spoke of love; His love. Preaching love from her hospital bed not sure of what the next moment held for her life absolutely astounded me but I wasn't surprised. This is the woman I know and love.
All my life she has preached and lived love. Nothing else in life really mattered but love. Why was I surprised that she was telling her girls to rest in His love and know that they will be wrapped in her love even if she has to exit this earth? You see, this week was not by accident; the conversation with my girlfriends, the reflection while staring into my closet, the letter I wrote. The theme was love and totally God's doing. He wants me to know that nothing else really matters. Yes, I have to be productive and live out the life He has blessed me with at this time. But, what I choose to do with this life and how I choose to treat people is what matters. Am I being purposeful in how I love those He brings by my path.
As I sit here thinking about the Resurrection, I remember the love. I cannot fathom nor do I try to understand what Christ did for me and for you. I can't. He doesn't ask me to understand. He asks me to know what He did for me, accept it, and love. I feel like I lived five years this week. However, I walked away with the greatest gift. He has shown me that it truly is far greater to love than anything else.
"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13
"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." 1 Corinthians 13:!3
"This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." 1 John 3:16-18
"Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." 1 John 4:8
Love & Blessings,
Meg
I don't think anything is by accident. I do believe accidents happen but there is a design to it all. I was standing in my bathroom looking into my ridiculously full closet and thought back to a conversation I had with two girlfriends that afternoon. We were talking about our desires and love to chase after the "more:" more stuff, more clothes, more house, you get the idea. We see everyone around us in these stupidly big Texas-sized homes taking these elaborate vacations wearing the perfectly styled outfit with their Pinterest snacks and crafts for their kiddos and feel like we are behind in the race. Quite frankly, we will NEVER win that race and it DOES. NOT. MATTER.
“Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other.” John 13:34-35
You know what matters? Love. As I looked into that closet thinking back on my discussion with my friends I thought about how well I have loved. Have I loved well? Do I get so wrapped up in everything else that I miss the very thing God needs me to do? Do I judge before I love? Do I grumble when God calls me to love; especially those hard to love folks? I have failed time and time again in the love-one-another department.
This week has been an absolute whirlwind but undoubtedly, God-ordained. As I walked into her hospital room it hit me square in the face: love. I wrote her a letter late the night before I left. Not coincidentally, the letter's theme was about how well she loved. She lay in her bed hooked up to way too much equipment looking far older than her years. My heart was saddened but immersed in peace when she spoke. She spoke of love; His love. Preaching love from her hospital bed not sure of what the next moment held for her life absolutely astounded me but I wasn't surprised. This is the woman I know and love.
All my life she has preached and lived love. Nothing else in life really mattered but love. Why was I surprised that she was telling her girls to rest in His love and know that they will be wrapped in her love even if she has to exit this earth? You see, this week was not by accident; the conversation with my girlfriends, the reflection while staring into my closet, the letter I wrote. The theme was love and totally God's doing. He wants me to know that nothing else really matters. Yes, I have to be productive and live out the life He has blessed me with at this time. But, what I choose to do with this life and how I choose to treat people is what matters. Am I being purposeful in how I love those He brings by my path.
As I sit here thinking about the Resurrection, I remember the love. I cannot fathom nor do I try to understand what Christ did for me and for you. I can't. He doesn't ask me to understand. He asks me to know what He did for me, accept it, and love. I feel like I lived five years this week. However, I walked away with the greatest gift. He has shown me that it truly is far greater to love than anything else.
"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13
"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." 1 Corinthians 13:!3
"This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." 1 John 3:16-18
"Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." 1 John 4:8
Love & Blessings,
Meg
Comments