L.O.V.E.

L.O.V.E

I’ve been loving someone all of my life. I love my mom, my dad, my brother, my grandparents and all the rest of the family. I didn’t know really what it meant as a child. I just knew they were there for me whenever I needed them. I loved without plan. It just was.

I had a son, Andrew, when I was 18. I guarantee you that he introduced me to a love that has no definition. A love that makes you do the unthinkable and think the un-doable to ensure his survival.

Not too long after Andrew, I would find my soulmate, Brian. A man that I know was given to me from God. He rescued me from me and I found out about a whole different kind of love. A love that sacrifices and builds and bonds and creates and upholds. It was a love of choice.

And then my daughter Aja came and another dimension of love was added. A love that engendered protection and encouraging and strengthening and uplifting. A “girls rule” kind of love that only she and I share.

And of course there is my love of God. A love so personal and deep and surrounding that I couldn’t really express it properly, so I won’t even try.

I thought I knew what love was; until I came close to losing it. And then God talked to me about loving. Not just when things are good, but truly loving when things are ruff. When mortgages are being foreclosed; when marriages are on the rocks; when children are on drugs; when the ones we trust betray us, when jobs are nowhere to be found; when your friends turn their backs on you. That’s when the loving gets hard but when it is needed the most.

And as God is prone to do, He gave us some information and instructions about love. But lesson #1 is that God is love and you are from God so you are love. What love is, God is and you are. What loves does, God does and so do you. So when I say love I mean we!

He said:

Love is patient: that means we wait; we endure; we don’t fret

Love is kind: we are gentle and considerate; we speak life

Love does not envy: we don’t want what we can’t have. We don’t begrudge another people their successes or their gifts

Love does not boast: we don’t take all the credit for the good and we don’t go around bragging about what we do and what we have

Love is not proud: we don’t walk around thinking we’re better than others. We’re not high and mighty

Love is not rude: we don’t talk to people any kind of way

Love is not self-seeking: we’re not selfish and only putting our needs and desires ahead of others

Love is not easily angered: We must have long fuses and we don’t go off on each other at the drop of a hat. We have self control

Love keeps no record of wrongs: We don’t keep a mental notebook of every time someone did or said something that hurt us. WE FORGIVE

Love does not delight in evil: We do not wish ill on others.

Love rejoices with the truth: We tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth – and not just our version of the truth.

Love always protects: We take care of each other

Love always trusts: We believe and have faith that God will do just what He said He is going to do

Love always hopes: We confidently expect our destiny to be fulfilled

Love always perseveres: We stand even in the face of obstacles. We survive

Love never fails: We ain’t going nowhere!

We can be the most eloquent speaker, preacher and teacher of all time, but if we are not speaking life to those are dying, our words are meaningless noise.

We might be able to speak prophesies from the heavens and hear the Holy Spirit like we hear me now, and have the faith of all the ages but if we can’t love those who hate us then we are nothing.

We can give away all of our shoes, purses, houses and throw ourselves on the fire for a great cause, but if we can’t show the love of God to everyone then we get nothing in return.

But all of these things will eventually go away and only three things will be left; faith, hope and love. And we know that the greatest of these is love. God is the greatest of these. You are the greatest of these. We are the greatest of these.

L.O.V.E. Love Overcomes Virtually Everything

In love,

Mona