Dearest, most lovable child of mine,
Today I want to talk to you about love. Not the cheesy
idealistic, overrated, but completely enchanting to watch, romance in the
movies, but real honest to goodness, I’ll be there for you, unconditional love.
If there is anything I want you to have learned from your
father and I is how to love. Not just a special someone, but everyone that you
meet. This is something that I know Jesus hopes you understand as well. I hope
you are beginning to understand in this stage of life (however old you are)
that everyone has worth and value in their life. Due to this, we, as
Christians, strive to love and bring out that worth and value in the people we
meet and have relationships with (friendships, family, significant others, strangers…etc).
The Bible states that the law of the Old Testament can be
summarized into two statements (Love your neighbor as yourself and Love the
Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength). These two
sentences encompass books and books of the Old Testament -39 to be exact, as
well as being a major foundation in the teachings of the Jewish and Muslim
religions. By this time in life you’ve probably heard it called the golden rule
and is also referenced (through different wording) including the Baha’I faith,
Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Native Spirituality, etc.
So you’re probably starting to think that this concept must
be pretty important right?
…….
…..
...
.
Right.
So what does it mean and how do we go about it?
Well Psalm 139 talks about how we are made in the image of
God and how he knit us together in the wombs of our mothers. Joshua ( ) talks
about how He has divine plans for us and ( ) talks about how He is preparing
the steps for us to take.
This means that everyone who walks on this Earth is here for
a reason. Every person who has ever taken a breath was designed by God, and
each of those individual’s has a deep, longing desire to be loved, to be
noticed, and to be appreciated.
Filling those needs in people is a very simple way to show love.
This can be done through acts of service (mowing someone’s
lawn, listening to their problems, standing up for them at school, or even just
sitting by people).
It can be done through words of affirmation (encouragement,
telling people compliments about what you like about them, and telling them
that they were really good at XYorZ that you saw them do or try to do).
You can also give them gifts, feed them, play with them,
help them with their homework, hug them, or write them kind notes. Each of
these things falls under God’s commandment to love and value our neighbors and
each of these things will help uplift our neighbor’s spirits and help them
realize their value in life.
So how does this relate to loving God?
This is one that I struggle with right now (I’m 21 years old
and am writing this on June 2nd, 2014).
See I wish God and I could go out and drink coffee and I
could just spend time talking with him about things that are going on in the
world and hear Him give little quips of humor and insight.
I wish that God could cuddle me at night or really hug me
tight. I often envision Him doing so. I also wish that He and I could dance
with me wearing a long flowing dress.
Well this is getting kinda girly, so if you’re a boy this
could relate to wanting to play football or video games together. You could
envision yourself going on bike-rides or finding frogs with God.
Basically spending quality time together.
However, I’ve found that even imagining myself doing that
with God isn’t enough to satisfy my soul. So I read and pray, and mostly spend
time reading Biblical fiction, listening to music or drawing my spiritual emotions
out to God.
This is something I want you to focus on. The last few ideas
are things that I’ve personally found help connect me to God, but I want you to
experiment and try to find what makes you feel closer to God…what’s your
spiritual personality?
Are you close to God in nature?
When reading about Him?
When singing to Him?
When telling others about Him?
When you do things for others?
When you journal your thoughts?
When you write your own Biblical fiction?
When you pretend you’re a Biblical character?
There aren’t any right or wrong answers to this. As we’ve
talked about, God has made each one of us unique and that also relates to how we
experience and feel close to God.
If you’re still stuck try to think of what you’d do with
your free time and see if you can make it about God.
But never forget, your experiences with God are about being
in relationship with Him. Not about what you do or don’t do with Him (so don’t
get stuck on rules about reading your Bible this many times a week, or only
listening to Christian music, etc –unless it’s how you connect with God and something
you feel convicted about.).
He wants to spend time with us and He wants us to do it in a
way that makes us happy…He doesn’t want to make us miserable to spend time with
Him.
So with the rest of this devotional thought I want you to
think back and reflect on the times that you have felt loved by others and a
time that you helped love someone else. (Write or remember one story for each).
I also want you to think of your favorite moments with God
and try to spend at least one hour this week (or more…as many as you want even….not
that it’ll get you out of chores, or school, or homework :P )…doing what you
love and devoting that time to God.
And remember, you are loved, you are chosen, you have value,
and I am so blessed that you are mine.
With love,
Mom.
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