Humility & Love

"Humility is the mother all virtues; purity, charity and obedience. It is in being humble that our love becomes real, devoted and ardent." (p. 363, Mother Teresa, The Joy in Loving)

Another way of saying this is: Humility produces love.

Love starts with humility.

How humble are you?

How loving are you?

Works as an expression of Love

"To love and be loved, we must know our brothers and our sisters, for knowledge always leads to love and love in action is service. Our work is only the expression of the love we have for God."

(page 359, Mother Teresa, The Joy in Loving)

What works is your love producing?

How does the love in your heart show in what you are doing?

Trying isn't Enough

"Not only must you try to love, you must love." (Mother Teresa, The Joy in Loving, p. 352)

Don't just say you tried. Trying isn't enough. Persevering, you must...that's faithfulness.

Continue to try each day, then you will accomplish your goal.

In your trying, you will have loved.

Feel the compulsion - the must - of love.

Today: I must love.

Cleanliness & Freedom to Love

"a clean heart is free to love"

(page 329, Mother Teresa, The Joy in Loving)

Clean your heart.
Clean your heart so you can be free.
Clean your heart so you can be free to love.
Free to love. What could be more powerful than that?

Pray - Love - Serve

"Love to be true has to begin with God in prayer. If we pray we will be able to love and if we love, we will be able to serve..." (page 325, Mother Teresa, The Joy in Loving)

Mother Teresa links love with prayer and service.
She depicts love generating with God in prayer, but developing into service.

Pray that you be able to love.
But, be ready to serve!

Love & Poverty

"The greatest poverty in the world is not the want of food but the want of love."

(page 323, Mother Teresa, The Joy In Loving)

There are more people hungry for love than we can count.

Half the children in the world live below the poverty line.

13% (and rising) of Americans live below the poverty line.

We may not be able to stamp out poverty, although, let's keep trying, but we can extend love.

Decrease poverty where you are, and love.

Love & Faith

"Love and faith go together. They complete each other." Mother Teresa (page 387, The Joy in Loving)

Or, as my teachers used to say, "When two vowels go a walking, the first one does the talking."

Love and faith accompany each other. They need each other. They complete each other.

It's a union of two being one.

You can't have love without faith. You need faith to love.

Pick them both up today and step out in faith and love.

Love is an act of Faith

"Love is an act of faith." (Gary Chapman, Love is a Verb, p. 218)

How are you living out your faith today?

It takes faith to get up and go out.

It takes faith to drive a car, or go to work.

It takes faith to turn on electricity.

It takes faith to listen to a doctor's report or the news reports.

It takes faith to love.

Step out in faith today.

The Power of Conviction

In the great movie, THE BOOK OF ELI, Denzel Washington portrays a man living under the power of his conviction. It drives him daily. It propels him through adversity. He is a man totally captured by his "calling." He is so sure of it, more so than the daily reality he encountered. It is under this type of conviction that we should love.

"Am I convinced of God's love for me and mine for Him? This conviction is like a sunlight which makes the sap of life rise and the buds of sanctity bloom. This conviction is the rock on which sanctity is built." Mother Teresa (page 414, The Joy in Loving)

An Acrostic for Love

Another acrostic for Love:

L - Looks out

O - Others

V- Value

E - Eternal or Everlasting

Appreciation & Love

Do we really appreciate what is around?

Do we really appreciate those people around us?

Do we really appreciate life?

To love we need to look.

When we see we need the right response.

Appreciation is a beautiful response.

Appreciation is a part of loving.

Hope & Love

"What keeps us alive, what allows us to endure, I think it is the hope of loving, of being loved."

Meister Eckhart

Is it hope or love that keeps us going?

Hope of loving, hope of being loved - that is a very strong reason to live.

If you don't have the love, hang on to the hope.

Conquering with Love

"The love for equals is a human thing. The love for the less fortunate is a beautiful thing...

The love for the more fortunate is a rare thing. And there is the love for the enemy - this is God's love. It conquers the world." Frederick Buechner

You may not conquer the world today, but you could conquer something in you and something that is not good in the world, if you would just love someone who is unlovable, or someone who does not love you. It's a small step, but it's a step in conquering what the world needs.

Love as a Condition

"Love is the condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own."

Heinlein

If your happiness is dependent on the well being and happiness of another's then you are loving someone else - as yourself. Their happiness and your happiness are interchangeable, because you are one. I'd go even farther than that and say that their happiness may be more important to you. Philippians 2:3 and 4 reads, "in humility consider others better than yourselves... each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others."

Love is the Soul's Food

"To be loved is the soul's food." C.S. Lewis

Feed your soul today, love someone.

Looking Up, Reaching Out, and Stooping

"Love that gives upward is worship;

love that goes outward is affection;

love that stoops is grace."

Dr. Donald Gray Barnhouse

Look up, reach out, and stoop down...

Loving In Spite Of

"The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved -

loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves."

Victor Hugo

Love someone today in spite of themselves - it might just be you!

Love is Never...

"Love is never sure apart from commitment.

Love is never safe apart from character.

Love is never sane apart from conscience.

Love is never simulated apart from community.

Love is never seized apart from courage."

Dr. Art Lindsley

Make a commitment.

Develop your character and conscience.

Live in community.

Have courage.

Forgive out of Love, Forget out of Humility

In one of Mother Teresa's talks to her workers, she explained: "Jesus taught us to forgive out of love, [and] how to forget out of humility." (page 118, Blessed Are You, Mother Teresa and the Beatitudes)

Forgiving out of love, forgetting out of humility. Now there's a lesson we can still learn from the tiny pencil of God, that is still writing to us.

A Revolution of Love

Mother Teresa talked about "a revolution of love."

Now there's something to think about.

How about causing a revolution today: LOVE!

(Blessed Are You, Mother Teresa and the Beatitudes, page 74)

A Sign of Love

Mother Teresa said "suffering that is shared, with the passion of Christ, is a wonderful gift and a sign of love." (page 47, Blessed Are You, Mother Teresa and the Beatitudes)

I've never considered suffering as a sign of love.

Nor have I ever thought of suffering as a gift - of any kind - wonderful or otherwise.

But I noticed she said "shared with the passion of Christ." Then I can imagine that anything shared with Christ would be blessed.

Consider your suffering as shared with Christ, as a gift, and a sign of love.

Amazing Love

There's a great song, written by Tomlin, Walt and Reeves, that has a line that hit me today:

"Love so amazing so divine - demands my soul, my life, my all."

Do you know that kind of love?

If love demands nothing of you, is it really love?

Have you ever felt such a love?

Amazing love, divine love...

Be inspired.

Oh the Depths

Love ~ because God loves you deeply. That's what Ephesians 3:18 says. Is that a good enough reason for you to love?

I can't think of a better reason, a purer cause, a more noble pursuit.

Ponder the depths of His love for you today, and you will be motivated to be a tiny reflection of that in someone else's life.

Mixing Love

"When love of one's people becomes an absolute, it turns into racism.

When love of equality turns into a supreme thing, it can result in hatred and violence..."

[page 98, Counterfeit Gods, Tim Keller]

Let your love be tempered with grace.

Let your love be mixed with compassion.

Let your love be spiked with joy.

Let your love be touched by justice.

Let your love be infused with thanksgiving.

Let your love be inspired with generosity.

Then your love will never be used to hurt another person.

Your Capacity to Love - Your Source for Love

Tim Keller asserts "that our capacity for romantic love stems from our being in the image of God" using Genesis 1:27-29 and Ephesians 5:25-31. [Counterfeit Gods, page 31]

Where did you think your capacity to love came from?

If you think it's from within you, you may be disappointed when your well is dry.

May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else...

I Thessalonians 3:12

Afraid of Love? Afraid to Love?

"If you are so afraid of love that you cannot have it, you are just as enslaved as if you must have it." [Tim Keller, Counterfeit Gods, page 31]

Do you know people who are afraid to love? Perhaps they have been hurt, left, or betrayed.

For whatever the reason, they say they're not going to love again. Some people are so afraid of love they run from love. Others, are just the opposite. They go from one relationship to another. They are always looking for the "right" one, never considering how they are not "right."

Having to "have" love and running from love are two manifestations of not quite fully understanding love. Love is something you give. You don't possess it, it possesses you. Love works through you ~ if you are brave enough!

A Love Story

One of the great love stories in the Bible is David and Jonathan.
It's a pure and true and sacrificial love.
I Samuel 20:17, says "he loved him as he loved himself."
How do you love others?
Do you love them with the same love and forgiveness and generosity you allow yourself?

Not until there is no separation between "them" and "me" will our loves be true and complete.

The Greatest Love

"The greatest love that any of us could have is our relationship with God." Ravi Zacharias (page 9, Just Thinking, Vol 19.1)

How great is your love relationship with God?

It's the greatest love story.

It's your greatest relationship.

Love as a Decision

Gray had an idea: "Let's get your Mom a dog." My sister in law and I rolled our eyes, but my niece pounced on the idea. The next day, we were off after her school to the animal shelter, writing down possibilities. Then, off to a dog store down the street. My niece exclaimed: "We found her dog. It's perfect." I thought, let's get this over fast. I told Mom we had a surprise we wanted her to see- IF she wants. Off to the doggy store down the street. My thought was Mom will squash this so fast. That's all she has to do. After all, it's not reasonable. She'll just explain it's a cute little dog, and then say, "No thanks." The dog came out and it was adorable. But, that wasn't it. When the puppy was put into Mom's arms, it looked up with the cutest little puppy dog eyes you've ever seen, and began licking Mom's chin. It was over. Where do we sign? It was that quick. It was that sure.

It made me think how love is like that. It's not always practical. It may not make sense. But, the decision was made before the decision was made. Does that make sense? The decision was done the moment the dog looked up and licked. The rest was details. I know that was true for me. Somewhere along the way, he looked, my heart turned, and that was it.

Did you make the decision, or was the decision made for you - before you even knew it?

That's more about falling in love than staying in love. After that day, everyday you make the decision to continue to love. From the falling to the staying ... Love is the best decision you can make.

Imagine the Impact of Love

Lysa Terkeurst poses this possibility: "Can you imagine what might happen if we let God show us how to use our insecurities and feelings of inadequacy as His prompts to love others more? I mean, really think about the simplicity of simply loving others and yet the absolute profound impact that it could make." (page 93, Becoming More Than a Good Bible Study Girl)

Imagine. I like that.

Imagine using all your insecurities and fears as prompts to love others?

Imagine having all your gifts and foibles work together to love others?

Now, imagine if you can, the impact loving others could have?

Imagine...