All You Need Is Love

Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ Matthew 22:37 NIV

So while I sit here blogging this, I should be packing. We are headed to a taekwondo tournament and I have a shot at winning grand champion in my division. But I sit here at my kitchen table with 2 cats circling me like vultures waiting for a kill because they want their snack. My hubby is cleaning the car. I'm sipping my coffee wondering how well I will perform when I haven't been able to train like I really should have.

And thats the context of this verse. I need to be packing, cleaning, feeding pets, washing dishes, stretching, training...whatever it is in a day that we need to do. That could be work, play, chores...you name it.

But what really matters at the end of the day? Is it how clean your house is? How full your checkbook is? How many accolades you got at work? No. It's love. It's how well you loved and how well were you loved in return. And where does love come from? God. He IS love. We are busy people but at the end of it all, there is only love. It starts and ends with God. He is the alpha and omega. He is love. Therefore it starts and ends with love. So this verse helps to remind us that we should love first and foremost. Everything else will work itself out in time. Even John Lennon widely proclaimed all you need is love.

So before I go pack and clean and calm the vultures, know that you are loved and return that love to its origin.

Walk This Way

Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord , and who meditates on his law day and night. Psalm 1:1‭-‬2 NIV

I recently hurt my back somehow. Ok not somehow. It was while I was teaching Jazzercise or taking taekwondo. My body sometimes cannot keep up with my desired level of rigorous, physical activity. My back hurts to the point of sending pain down one leg making it difficult to walk anywhere, much less get myself in trouble. So I could take this verse a couple ways.

I liken it to the fact that right now walking is difficult. I'm going to choose very carefully where and why I have to go anywhere that requires moving my feet. If it's not 100% necessary, it ain't happening. So should we react when we think about making decisions that would lead us down a path God cant follow, and won't. We should tread carefully where our actions are concerned and be crystal clear why we must go or do anything. It's the only way to be sure we hear God's voice when we need to and abide by his word.

Or he could be telling me to sit down, shut up and listen to him by dwelling on his word. Of course we should be doing that anyway, yes?

Where Did He Go?

Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. 1 John 4:11‭-‬12 NIV

Dear readers, its been a while since I've written a devotional. Life has thrown us a few curve balls lately and I've never been good at sports. Zippo hand-eye coordination. I've kept up with my daily readings but I guess I was a little selfish in that I kept the message from the reading to myself. Then again, the Bible does encourage us to go into our closets to pray in secret at times. I think God knows when we need to take a break from outward stressors causing our focus to be imbalanced. He knows when we've had enough, so to speak, so he allows life to happen in such a way as to get us to slow down or change direction or thought process. So in keeping my readings to myself he's been building a foundation upon which I can rest the rest I so desperately need.

Which is how this verse speaks to me today. I could go on about love, but I focused on the 'no one has seen God' part. What? No one has ever seen him? Nope. Not the living anyway. We see the results of his work. We feel his presence. We breathe him in much like taking in the scent of your mom's perfume that brings back memories of childhood. He's there, working behind the scenes to make it all happen. We don't see him, panic, and then he must work to instill peace in us again by giving us glimpses, but only small ones. Then we panic again and he starts over because he loves us, not because we love him.

I'm sitting at home this morning when I should be at work because I've caught a cold. God's saying sit! Or he knows I just need a break. But what am I doing? Panicking because I don't have a lot of time at work to be off. I need leave time for other things. So he's now working through this writing to being me peace to say it will be alright even though I can't see it....yet.

Never doubt that God is there even though you can't see him.