All You Need Is Love

A recurring theme God has been showing me the past couple weeks is LOVE.  I have read about love in the Bible during my personal devotional time.  I have heard sermons about love at church.  Lawrence, too, has been reading about love and then sharing with me what he has been learning.  And, of course, Thursday is Valentine's Day, a day all about celebrating LOVE (so I'm not exactly sure who decided it would be a good idea to schedule Parent-Teacher Conferences on this holiday, requiring Lawrence to be at school until 8 pm that night).

Anyway, as I was talking with Lawrence about the topic of LOVE once more, I thought of the Beatles song:

Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love.

All you need is love.

This would most certainly be what God is trying to tell me right about now.

First and foremost, I need His love.  I definitely don't deserve His love.  But, I need it.  Desperately.  Without it, I am nothing.  Without it I am doomed to die.  Without it my life is meaningless, has no purpose.  Like I said, I NEED God's love.  And so, He freely and lavishly gives it to me.  Daily.

In return, I am to love others.  

So I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other.

Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.

Your love for one another will prove to the world you are My disciples.

No pressure or anything.  How I live, how I love, will determine what people think of Jesus.  If I claim to know and love Jesus, to be His disciple, then my actions had better back up my words.  I need to put my money where my mouth is, so to speak.  

So, what exactly is love?  Ironically enough, when I got on biblegateway.com to look up some verses for this post, their verse of the day came from the popular passage on love:

Love is patient and kind.

Love is NOT jealous or boastful or proud or rude.

It does NOT demand its own way.

It is NOT irritable, and it keeps NO record of being wronged.

It does NOT rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever truth wins out.

Love never gives up,

never loses faith,

is always hopeful,

and endures through every circumstance.

Great.  Thanks for the definition.  Now, more importantly, what do I do with that information?  What does that kind of love look like in my day-to-day activities?

Being patient when Coralyn or one of my daycare boys doesn't make it to the bathroom in time, 

and I have to deal with wet or poopy clothes.

Being patient when Coralyn asks for her breakfast and her milk and a snack and a towel and a spoon all in the most whiny voice possible.

NOT comparing myself to other moms.

NOT comparing myself to other women, wishing I had their abs or could eat whatever I wanted 

and still look that good or had hair that didn't frizz so easily.

Stopping what I am doing, letting the laundry or dirty dishes wait, 

and getting down on the floor to play with the girls and daycare kiddos 

even if I feel like I simply MUST get something done.

Sitting down to nurse Kellah yet again, 

even if I think she has had more than enough milk for the entire day and it's only 9 am, 

remembering that she will grow out of this 

and one day all too soon not want anything to do with me at all!

NOT getting frustrated or irritated when the kids dump out every single basket of toys, 

for the 13th time in just 15 minutes.  

NOT being annoyed when the kids make a mess eating lunch,

right after I got done sweeping and mopping the floor.

NOT giving up, but taking the time to talk to Coralyn yet again about being nice, using kind words, and treating her sister, the daycare kiddos, her friends the way she would want to be treated.

Trusting that God loves me and has a plan for me that is better than I could ever imagine.  

Allowing God to do His thing, in His timing, and believing it's what is best for me.

RESTING IN GOD'S LOVE.

Funny, how it always comes back to God.  In order to love others the way God loves me, I must spend time with God.  I have to be in His Word.  I have to talk with Him, all throughout the day.  I have ABIDE in Him.  Which is exactly what I read yesterday and today:

Remain in Me, and I will remain in you.

Apart from Me, you can do nothing.

Remain in My love.

Only as I am filled with God's love and peace, can I let Jesus' love flow out of me into my children, my husband, my family, my friends, my neighbors, complete strangers.

Plus, as I dwell in God's presence, I fall deeper in love with Him.  And what does love for God look like?

When you obey My commandments, you remain in My love.

Love is reflected by obedience.  If I love God, I will obey Him.  I will do what He asks, even if I don't understand it, even if it's hard or scary, even if I don't know what will happen as a result.  God must have known I might have questions or doubts or want to know more details.  Because He promises me this:

I have told you these things so you will be filled with my joy.

Yes, your joy will OVERFLOW!

If I remain in God's love, and in turn am able to share God's love with those around me, then my life will not only be characterized by LOVE but by JOY as well!  Now, that's a good deal!

That must be where the children's song came from:

I've got JOY, joy, joy, joy

down in my heart.

Where?

Down in my heart.

Where?

Down in my heart to stay.

And I am so happy, so very happy.

I've got the LOVE of Jesus in my heart.

Think I'll go see that with the girls right now!