Tag Archives: loving your neighbor

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Love is not a feeling, it's an ability.

-Marty Dan in Real Life

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I've been gearing up for Valentine's Day. My preparation has consisted of predetermining where I want to eat for mine and Jason's meal date, making a mental note to wear my red necklace  (fitting for the occasion) and forcing myself down the greeting card aisle at CVS; a place where my claustrophobic tendencies come out. It's hard to find a card "when you want to send the very best".

I've also been dreading having to make Rylie's card box for her valentines. I waited until the last-minute again. She decided that the box that our twelve pack of tacos came in last night would be perfect. She'll be tickled pink with her taco-scented valentines post party time.

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Valentine's Day, the celebrated Day of Love, is the time when we get "all up in our feelings".

Honestly, my feelings on Valentine's Day and my feelings in general aren't always cause for celebration. My feelings are a fickle ebb and flow. They can't be trusted. My feelings are thwarted by my moods, rude people, crowded shopping centers (with rude people) and long red lights (which make me fall into the rude people category).

We base love on our feelings.

But here's the thing….

Love is an ability. Love is an ability that acts in union with our emotions when we're feeling generous or amorous. And even when we're "not feeling it" (which is more often the case), love is an ability to act accordingly in spite of our emotions.

Remember these tips on Valentine's Day (February 14) and the other 364 LOVE days in a year.

  1. Love is patient. Remember that when you're trying cover a taco box with wrapping paper while you're aided by an eight year old. Love doesn't urge "Move it, move it". Love isn't a rigid clock-watcher.
  2. Love is kind. Love seeks out the poor in spirit and shares what it has. Love passes up the better parking spot with the thought that somebody might need it. It gives without thought of what it will receive in return.
  3. Love is not boastful or jealous or proud. Love has no need to be better than anybody else. It has no need to make the next person seem less in order to puff itself up.
  4. Or rude. It does not demand its own way.  It doesn't stamp its foot. (It probably doesn't give its husband a list of three choices of where it would like to eat for lunch…in order of preference) It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. Love isn't a cold-blooded creature whose testy temperature changes according to its surroundings. Love isn't wrecked by attitude. Love, in anger, doesn't say things like, "You always…" or "You never"…. (#4 was long, huh.)
  5. It does not rejoice in evil, but rejoices in the truth. Love doesn't celebrate when its enemy gets what they had coming.
  6. Love never gives up, never loses faith. Is always hopeful through every circumstance. Love's mantra is hope-when it's alone….or despair is knocking at its door……or when its feelings lie. Because love lasts 365 days a year; outlasting the "yuck" (sadness/lonliness/failings/sin) of life. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Love is not a feeling. It's an ability; one given to us from the very author of love.

Love comes in different packages, including a taco box. The substance to that love is what matters.

They will know we are Christians by our love.

Love some bodies today (and 364 other days).

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Occasionally comes a conversation I may wish the next day didn't exist.
Just had lunch with a spunky-hearted friend.  I love seeing her at church on Wednesdays, Sundays and on social media. We pass each other in the hallway by the sanctuary with hearty hellos.  In the Facebook world we give each other the "little blue thumbs up" in agreement with the other's post. We don't, however, agree on everything.
We caught a glimpse of the infamous George Zimmerman trial today while sharing chips and salsa.
Blast!

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I told myself I wasn't going to mention it, but I knew immediately I was lying.  It came out something like "I'm going crazy watching this trial".  The response included a request for my thoughts on the case.  I knew I was treading on shaky ground.  The George Zimmerman trial is so emotionally charged.  If you've watched it or read about it for a few minutes, you probably have an opinion. I have, (though I promised myself I wouldn't) read every article written about the case.  I have watched much of the trial live.  I shout at the TV and shake my head in disagreement.  I growl and Google information to prove a reporter's information incomplete or erroneous.

I care so much I tell myself.  I'm passionate and intense.

There are causes and issues that often times steal my heart. 

 Abortion? (I can barely type the word it's so emotionally weighted).

Alcohol abuse-How much alcohol is ok?

Homosexuality-Do people living the lifestyle belong in boy scouts?  Should they be allowed to marry?

Racism/Reverse Discrimination- Does everyone discriminate to an extent?

Child Abuse -What constitutes Child Abuse?  Is it ok to spank your kid?

I read the news. I read the Bible.  And I think.  I consider both sides of an issue, turn it into black and white, and I make my stand.

I find the bottom line; the line that's toed by people who stand for goodness (in my holy opinion). 

It's good to know right from wrong; surely everyone thinks they do.

It's good to know the bottom line.

But behind every bottom line there are people; some on my side and some that aren't.

My facts and figures wound tight in my emotions make that bottom line so large in my vision that the people behind the bottom line become hard to see.

More important than facts I can easily recall from forensic experts in the Zimmerman trial, are the broken families.  Both sides.  Behind the bottom line, you have one family who has lost their son, and one family who fears, no matter the verdict, that their son will, in a sense, be lost too.

Right is right.  And wrong is wrong.  But aren't people who are, in our mind,  wrong, more important than our being right?

If people don't know that we love them, nothing we have to say matters.

23 ........ don’t get involved in foolish, ignorant arguments that only start fights. 24 A servant of the Lord must not quarrel but must be kind to everyone, be able to teach, and be patient with difficult people. 25 Gently instruct those who oppose the truth. Perhaps God will change those people’s hearts, and they will learn the truth. 2 Timothy 2:23-26

"Gently instruct" comes finally after  Don't get involved. Don't quarrel.   Be kind.  Be able to teach. Be patient.

I genuinely love people, but there have been times they have come after the bottom line.

Lord help us to remember that there are people behind the bottom line.  Help us to understand that, really, people are the bottom line.

We pray that our helping people to know you, and trust you, will always be more important than anything we know.

Dedicated to my brother; my favorite person to argue with.

 

 

 

 

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This past Sunday, God's Girlies met, focusing on loving God through loving our neighbors.  Summertime presents the perfect opportunity to do just that as we tend to bend from our schedules a bit.  The days are longer.  We may do some traveling, but whatever our schedule we seem to have more contact with people.  So God's Girlies made a craft that will aid them in their reaching out and encouraging a neighbor,... or twenty.

I have to confess my admiration for Jeanne and Krista Bergeron.  They do crafts.  And when I say they do crafts, THEY DO CRAFTS.  They make it look easy.  They make it look fun.  And the finished product is always adorable.  Is it admiration or jealousy, I'm not sure.

 

Here's what they did:

They had the girls make a cute cloth pouch with a fabric piece. They glued and vel-croed the cloth to fasten it in envelope fashion.

The girls decorated the pouch with spangles, ribbon etc.

Small cards were made possibly using Google or Yahoo images.  The images were printed on card stock and cut-out to be placed in the pouch. Hallie's cards included verses, sweet sayings, jokes and cute pictures.  Be creative.

Application Idea:

Jesus says in Matthew 25- Whatever you have done for the least of these brothers of mine, you have also done unto me. 

 Loving the least of these may refer to loving those hard to love, those we're not familiar with, or those in need. Neighbors are those who are in our proximity and those we have encountered in the past.  Encouraging these neighbors in Jesus' name gives glory to our Savior.

These mini cards can be given to a neighbor down the street, the boy at the sno-cone stand, a cashier at Target or an elderly lady at a nursing home.  A card and a smile brings a bit more of Jesus to the world.  And it sends a bit of love to Jesus too.