July 169 "When All Else Fails, Just Love"

There are times in our lives when we feel what we have done, what we can do,

given what we could give, cared as we could care, and still, somehow, feel like we still come up short. Ever feel like this? Well, today's blog is short and to the point: whenever you feel like you come up short, let go and rest in the love that you give. It is more than enough!

The thing about love is that it is not self-seeking. It takes the focus off of ourselves and places it elsewhere, onto others.

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no records of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails."

1 Corinithians 13:4-8

Love does several things for us. First, it takes our focus off of oneself and places it upon others. When we do this sufficiently, such feelings of loneliness, despair, hurt, anger, along with many other negative feelings dissipate and are replaced with kindness, caring, goodness, and thoughtfulness which carry along with them their own sense of peace and joy. Secondly, love purifies our motivations. The Bible tells us that our hearts are deceitful, even to ourselves. Often we do things have no understanding as to the true motive of our actions. Much of what we do can be ascertained by others as being self-centered and self-benefiting to one's own interests. Love steps over our blindness and begins to see a life

of freedom and purpose. Thirdy, love is our gift offering to others. John Powell, in his book Fully Human, Fully Alive, said that love is like a fingerprint. It is uniquely ours, no one else has what we have. And when it is given, it is given like a gift which can be received or rejected by others. When a gift is truly given out of love, the response returned is not the anticipated action one seeks out when giving the gift, for to do would reveal the act as manipulation, seeking to do something in order to get something back in response. Real love gives freely and sets free those who receive it. And finally, love is a great navigational tool when we lose our way or find we have difficult choices to make. Love seeks to take the higher moral ground and defend it with one's life.

"Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one

another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law." Romans 13:8

"Follow the way of love." 1 Corinthians 14:1

"Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in

truth." 1 John 3:18

"There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has

to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We

love because he first loved us." 1 John 4:18-19

I have found, for me, that when I act out of love, I can rest in the results. I have done my best. I have sought to purify my motives. What is left is a peace that surpasses human understanding, for it rest in the love that God first had for me.

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I leave you with this video "It Is Well With My Soul." To be loved unconditionally by God sets us free from ourselves to become all that God designed each one of us to become.

In his love, see you tomorrow...

"Carpe Momentum in Love" (Seize the moment in love)