Tag Archives: Love

Become the Gift…

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Jesus was born dying…

Dying to LOVE you.

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The wood of the manger…the wood of the cross.

Christ Child breaking open the virginal womb of Mary…Crucified Christ tearing the temple veil in two.

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Newborn Babe swaddled in clothes…Christ Man mocked in purple cloth.

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Blessed Mother holding the Babe to her chest…Sorrowful Mother holding her Son from the Cross.

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Angels singing triumphantly “Holy, Holy, Holy”…Soldier at cross declaring, “Surely this was the Son of Man.”

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Jesus, God with a human face, born to die for LOVE of You!

When we receive the gift of the Christ Child, we receive the LOVE that came into the world to lay down His life for all.

Do we realize the true message of Christmas is about the Receiving?

The greatest gift we can give to our loved ones is to RECEIVE more deeply the LOVE that knows no bounds…

And LIVE that LOVE passionately.

Have you received the GIFT of Christmas?…Would you lay down your life for another?

May we all more deeply RECEIVE…

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So we may all more deeply GIVE.

RECEIVE and become the GIFT.

Give Christmas away.

“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to seperate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 8: 38-39

Signposts…

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A wise person once told me…

“Leave every place behind better than you found it.  Leave a bit of beauty.”

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In a world that mars Beauty by twisting the beautiful into the ugly and promoting the ugly as beautiful.

Our vision has become distorted.  Deceit saturates truth.

But the Love of God is written on our hearts…

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 And the strength of the Spirit within can bring forth beauty and truth through us.

Leaving bits of beauty behind…

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Untangles the knots of the enemy’s destruction.

Bits of Beauty can be as simple as…

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A smile, a kind word, a hug, a generous act, a song, a single flower…

Bits of beauty left behind paves the way…

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A signpost on the road to heaven.

Be a Beauty signpost this weekend.  Leave bits of beauty behind you for others on this trail home.

“From Zion God shines forth, perfect in beauty.” Ps 50:2

Messengers Among Us…

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Friends…true friends…are the greatest of gifts.

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A true friend gives a bit of his/her golden heart…

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May we return the blessing.

A true friend is strong when we are weak…

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May we return the blessing.

A true friend reminds us to look towards the light when all seems dim…

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May we return the blessing.

A true friend offers to lend us his/her Hawaiin shirt when we just have to “get outa’ here”, but usually encourages us to stay put and persevere.

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May we return the blessing.

A true friend knows how to make us laugh when we’d rather cry…

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but sits with us through the tears when they start to fall.

May we return the blessing.

A true friend is a messenger among us showing us the love of God and pointing to us the direction upward and beyond.

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May we return the blessing.

Messengers among us preparing our way….may we return the blessing.

Messengers among us…gifts from God….

Let us thank those messengers among us in our lives…

And may they return the blessing.

“I give thanks to my God always, remembering you in my prayers” Phil:4

Litmus Test…

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What is the Litmus Test for Love?

“Love is Patient”…

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Am I?

“Love is kind”…

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Am I?

“It is not jealous, is not pompous, it is not inflated”…

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Am I?

“It is not rude, it does not seek its own interests”…

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Do I?

“It is not quick tempered, it does not brood over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.”

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Do I?

“It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” …

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Do I?

“Love never fails.”

Have I?

“But when the  kindness and generous love of God our savior appeared, not because of any righteous deeds we had done but because of his mercy, he saved us through the bath of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he richly poured out on us through Jesus Christ our savior, so that we might be justified by his grace and become heirs in hope of eternal life.” Titus 3: 4-7

We have much to be thankful for!

Can You Pinch More Than an Inch?…

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Love is Sacrifice…

The two words can be used interchangably.

I love you….I Sacrifice for you.

Love pinches…Sacrifice pinches.

Love takes a bit of our heart….And gives to another.

Love calls for Obedience. Obedience to God’s Law of Love.

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Look carefully at the word Obedience.

See the 3 letter word within?

DIE…

To be Obedient is to Die to self…

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To Die to self is to Sacrifice…

To Sacrifice is to love…

Jesus left us an example.

So…today…

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Can you pinch more than an inch?

“I give you a new commandment:  love one another.  As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.  This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if  you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35

Feel the Burn…

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Love…

the word…overused and misunderstood.

Love is not based on feelings…

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stars in the eyes, sweaty palms, Hollywood hype feelings.

Love is not even based on understanding,

for as hard as we try we cannot ever fully understand each other.

Love is acceptance.

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Otentimes acceptance is uncomfortable….it goes against the grain.

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But it’s in the uncomfortable we begin to love.

Love is loving the unlovable and that is where true virtue begins.

Let’s look more closely at the uncomfortable in our lives…

there’s room for love there.

Let us stretch ourselves and feel the burn of our prides convicted and our very selves challenged.

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We have to give up to win!

That’s when we truly begin to love.

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FEEL THE BURN!

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your STRENGTH.”

Mark 12:30

One size fits all? Do it yourself?…

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Struggling in a one- size- fits- all holiness?

Trying to put on Christ like your best friend, your spouse, your neighbor, some character in a book?

Are you a do it yourself-er?

Holiness isn’t about being like everyone else.

Cookie cutter people we are not….

“Do it yourself-er”, “I am the maker of me” people we are not!

You are a “once in a lifetime”, they “broke the mold” after you, unique gift of a person.

Created by Him who is Love, molded in His mighty grace.

It takes courage to be the real you…

But when we live our uniqueness clothed in Christ…

it gives permission for others around us to be real!

so……

Lions and tigers and bears in your life?

The Holy Spirit fills you with the courage…

to be who you are and be that well!

Surrender to His grace.

Be the best you today….God needs you!

“I have told you this so that you might have peace in Me.  In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world”. John 16:33

Wrapped….

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The after effect of resting in the the Mystery of the Molding?…

Coming into the vastness of the Love of God.

The finite…enters the infinite….

boundaries melt away.

Heart expands beyond the fleshly vessel.

Even the prayers of praise and thanksgiving are but tiny whispers

within the largeness of this extravagant Love.

For words cannot contain, express, or verbalize…

this Unconditional Love.

Like a soft wrap enveloping inside and out…

Enfolded in God’s Glory!

“That the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in Him, in accord with the grace of our God and Lord Jesus Christ.” 2 Thes 1:14

Head, Heart, Hands, Feet…

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May your HEAD know the truth of His Love…

May your HEART beat with the vibrancy of His Love…

May your HANDS reach out in compassion with His Love…

May your FEET carry His Love into the love sick world.

Through Him, With Him, In Him….

LIVE + JESUS

“Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.  Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love…No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us. ” 1 John 4:7-8, 12

He loves me…He loves me not….

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Petal of a pelargonium - taken in the evening ...

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 He loves me….pick a petal, let it fall

He loves me not (negative thoughts)…pick a petal, let it fall

He loves me…pick a petal, let it fall

He loves me not (reluctance to act, to give, to love)…pick a petal, let it fall

He loves me…pick a petal let it fall

He loves me not (sinful actions, tendencies, brokenness)…pick a petal, let it fall

 And so on and so on and so on

Now disconnected petals in a heap encircling the stripped stem. Absent of the beauty.

Lord, pierce the “love me, love me not” thoughts. Hold back the hand inclined to “pick and let fall”.

Deliever from this temptation.

RECEIVE His Love into the who you are this day ….and be transformed. BELIEVE in His Love that sees the beauty of who you are this day and be set free. Live in the peace of His eternal “He loves me” LOVE. And pass on the glory.