Tag: Love

Senseless….

I know that this may not make a lot of sense, and this post is so scattered.  But I just need to vent this….

This is the season that for many of us, is a joyous fun time.  We get together with family, we take small trips, we remember all that we have to be thankful for, we remember all of our blessings.  But as I sit here writing this, the father of a Kindergartner, and the Husband of a teacher, my heart is breaking for the families that have lost their children today.

This year in multiple senseless acts, too many people have lost fathers, mothers, children, friends.  I cannot even begin to imagine, the grief that these families are feeling as we come into the holidays.  Over the next few days, many people are going to try and link these acts to how the person was raised, or gun control, or the music they listened to, or a myriad, of other psychological things.  No matter what it gets linked to, the only thing that remains that there are now empty holes in too many homes.

Tonight across America, I know that there are parents holding their kids tighter, hugging them longer, grieving for those other families.  Also across America, many people are heading to churches to pray for those families, and to seek God in these times.  It is my hope and prayer, that for many of us we take this sobering experience, and realign our priorities.  Don’t let this be the one time this week, that you snuggled up with your kids and read a story, or had a “sleep-over.”  Don’t let this be the one time that you put away the cell phone, stepped away from email.  We need to examine what matters in our lives.

Life is way to short, spend what time you have with the ones you love.  And as we go into the Christmas holiday, remember what Christmas is really about.  It’s about God’s gift to us, His love for us, His Son.  Spread Love, spread Joy, spread Hope.  Remember, that no matter what we may feel or what the world may tell us, God is with us, even when it seems he isn’t, he is there.

God, I don’t understand why these things happen.  I just know, that these families need you right now.  Please send you Holy Spirit around them.  Be their comfort, Be their hope, bring them piece.  Help them as they go through these trying times, You are the Rock, and the Shelter.  You are our stronghold, Father, I praise your name through everything.  Amen.

by corymcglone

History doesn’t make the man, The man makes history…

2 Corinthians 5:16-19— 16 Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. 17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

So many times in today’s world we hear about people’s past and that’s why they do the things that they do today.  We get sometimes are trapped in the stigma that what our parents were, that’s what we will be.  Or that one mistake in our past labels us for our entire future.  We get so caught up in the past, and what we came from, that we let it become us.  If someone comes from an abusive home, they will become an abuser, or always look for abusive relationships.  If someone comes from a poverty-stricken family, they will never get out of that situation.  But it is then that we have to overcome, we have to strive to do better, we have to reach for a better life


.

I was lucky growing up, unlike so many people of my generation, my parents are still together after all these years.  I had great parents that always taught me the value of hard work, and the importance of family.  So no I didn’t come from a broken home, I didn’t have an abusive father, I didn’t have to deal with a lot of things that many deal with today.  So no I can’t talk first hand to these situations, maybe my outlook would be different on this subject, but I know that there are people who overcome the demons of their past.

No matter what is in your past, it is not your past that makes you.  Take the things from your past and let them shape you.  The things of your past should help you make decisions, they should help you teach others and try to lead them in a better way.  Take your old mistakes and learn from them, take the dark things of your past and find ways to not go down those roads again, learn from others mistakes, and try not to repeat them.

Take the past, put it behind you, learn from it, don’t dwell in it, use it to teach others, and go forward making your own history not shaped by your past.

by corymcglone

Whats your love?

To wrap-up this series, I thought it only fitting to do a post about Love on this Easter weekend.  I know that people everywhere will be blogging about Love and Passion and God this weekend, but I wanted to take this a slightly different way from the way I have written about love in the past.

World English Dictionary

love  (lʌv)
— vb
1. ( tr ) to have a great attachment to and affection for
2. ( tr ) to have passionate desire, longing, and feelings for
3. ( tr ) to like or desire (to do something) very much
4. ( tr ) to make love to
5. ( intr ) to be in love
— n
6. a. an intense emotion of affection, warmth, fondness, andregard towards a person or thing
b. ( as modifier ): love song ; love story
7. a deep feeling of sexual attraction and desire
8. wholehearted liking for or pleasure in something
9. Christianity
a. God’s benevolent attitude towards man
b. man’s attitude of reverent devotion towards God
10. Also: my love  a beloved person: used esp as an endearment
11. informal  ( Brit ) a term of address, esp but not necessarilyfor a person regarded as likable
12. (in tennis, squash, etc) a score of zero
13. fall in love  to become in love
14. for love  without payment
15. ( used with a negative ) for love or money  in anycircumstances: I wouldn’t eat a snail for love or money
16. for the love of  for the sake of

I went to dictionary.com and there are even more definitions than what I have listed here.  Then when you do a search at biblegateway.com there are 484 references of the word Love.

John 3:16

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

   16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His [a]only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

Footnotes:

  1. John 3:16 Or unique, only one of His kind

What better show of love is there than what God did for us?  God gave up a piece of himself, as a sacrifice for us to be able to spend eternity with him.  So many times we get a distorted idea of what love really is.  We use the word love about so many different things, we love songs, we love cars, movies, tv shows, etc.  But when it comes to loving people, and being in love with someone, the feeling of love comes and goes.  Look at the high rate of divorce in our country, and when you talk to people that are divorced or separated, a lot of times you will hear them say that they just fell out of love.

But what God did for us, is the type of love that we should be striving for.  True love and passion for God and for others is love that gives up part of yourself, to benefit the other person.  In most cases, the other person will give back and give up part of themselves for you.  A true relationship is not one-sided, and too many times this is not the case, one side does all of the giving.  Too many times we take advantage of the gift of Love that God has given us.  God has only asked for us to listen and follow Him, to love our neighbors as ourselves.  We have so much to be thankful for and so little to do, to show our love back to God.

What are you willing to give up to follow Christ?  What part of yourself are you willing to give up for your spouse, family, friends?   Are you willing to go out of your way to do something for them, to step out of your comfort zone?

Love is not easy, it is to be cherished and fought for.  Jesus told his disciples, that the world would hate them, but to remember that it hated Him first.  And in marriages, you must always be willing to fight to keep your love alive.  The day that you say, “It can’t happen to us…”, is the day that trouble will begin.  You must guard your heart and guard your love.  Stand up for love, and for what matters in life.

God was will to have His own Son die, to show His love for us, what else is there to give up….

by corymcglone