How's Your Wellbeing?

"Wellbeing is about the combination of our love for what we do each day, the quality of our relationships, the security of our finances, the vibrancy of our physical health, and the pride we take in what we have contributed to our communities. Most importantly, it's about how these five elements interact." (p. 4, Well Being, Rath & Harter)

These authors artfully tell us our wellbeing depends on the quality of our love: for what we do, how we relate to others, how we relate to money and things, how we feel about our bodies, and we interact in our cultures.

It's an important think to consider and evaluate.

Two "You Must..."

Brother Lawrence outlines two "You Must..."

"You must always be governed by love, without selfish views.

You must resolve to make the love of God the end or purpose of all your actions."

(p. 21, The Believer's Secret of the Abiding Presence)

This is good advice.

1. We must be governed by love, not our own desires.

2. We must resolve to make loving God the end game and purpose of all we do.

If we do these things, all will be well.

Love Relaxes

"Love relaxes people." Gray Keller

Gray said this the other day, and the truth of this hit me.

Love does let you relax. Love allows you to be you. Love allows you to trust in whatever the future holds. Relax in your Fathers' love today.

Love & Frienship

I've heard, Love is at the heart of every true friendship.

These two verses seem to tell us that is true:

Two are better than one...if one falls down, his friend can help him up. Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

A friend loves at all times. Proverbs 17:17

Be a friend today, love someone...help someone.

The Influence of Love

"Blessed is the influence of one true, loving human soul on another." George Eliot

Influence someone today, love them!

Love Extravangantly

The Message Bible concludes the Love Chapter of First Corinthians 13, this way:

"Trust steadily in God,

hope unswervingly,

love extravagantly."

What a great word picture. Love extravagantly today as you trust God and hang to hope.

Consider This Today

My prayer for today: I want to be overwhelmed by the love of God.

Blocking Love

In their book, The Three Loves, Larry Kreider and Jimmy Seibert state: "Man does not rightly share God's love, which holds the answer to the world's problems." (p. 158)

They gave the example of relief food and medicine being held up in customs due to bribes and red tape. This illustrated how the supply was there but was being withheld or blocked.

They conclude, "It breaks the heart of God when something in us blocks the distribution of His love in all the earth." (Ibid)

Don't let His love flowing through you to others be blocked by red tape, apathy, or anything!

Three Point Check

As the pastor read the Fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5:22,23, he encouraged us to everyday check the first three fruits (love, joy, peace) to see if they are in our lives. He says if we can check those everyday, the others will follow (patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control).

It's a good check today. How are you doing with your 1. Love, 2. Joy, and 3. Peace?

Surely the others will follow after those.

Fulfilling, Doing Well, or Missing the Mark?

"If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself,' you do well; but if you show partiality, you commit sin." James 2:8,9

Two parts to this: 1. You do well; 2. You sin.

It confirms us if we love, we do "good."

If we don't love, but show partiality, or inequity, or prejudice, we do "bad."

I always thought of love as being partial to someone...I like them better. But, here it says this is wrong. True love sees and acts beyond likes or dislikes. True love stays love inspite of our partialities, prejudices, and preconceptions.

Before you act today, think: Do I do well, or do I sin (miss the mark)?

Absence or Presence - it all works for Love

"absence sharpens love, presence strengthens it." Thomas Fuller

Whether you are together or apart, your love can grow.

It just depends on how you use your time and your heart.

Engage your heart in the things that sharpen and strengthen your love.

Absence doesn't have to hurt, and presence doesn't have to annoy.

Both can be used for good.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28

Speaking the truth in love, we ill in all things grow up into Him who is the Head, that is, Christ.

Ephesians 4:15

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. II Corinthians 9:8

Loving Without All the Answers

Larry Kreider and Jimmy Seibert wrote a book called The 3 Loves. The basic premise of the book is to love Jesus, love God's people, and love a broken world, or the lost.

One thing that said a lot was, "You don't have to worry about all the unanswered questions. Simply live out that life of love." (p. 33, 34)

Or as they asked, "Can you love the people in front of you?" (p. 33)

Or as they summarized, "live out the simple values of loving Jesus, loving His people, and loving those around us in our broken world." (p. 31)

Forgiving and Tender

"Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look which becomes a habit." Peter Ustinov

I like that: "a tender look which becomes a habit."

Make tender looks a habit. That will soften not only your heart, but also your interactions with others. Tenderness is just the soil that love needs. And just like a young plant needs the sun to live, love needs forgiveness. Forgiving is a tendering of the heart. Tender your heart today. Love so you can become tenderhearted person dealing tenderly with one another.

"Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants." Deut 32:3

Love & Humility

"True love is the parent of humility." William Ellery Channing

Love produces/offsprings humility.

Humility comes from a source/place of love.

Love holds you higher.

Humility puts itself down, to hold you up.

Humility is acceptance of who we are and yet a hope for who you might become.

Humility accepts. Love gives.

Their part of the same family.

We need them both in our family.

Love Doesn't End

"True love stories never have endings." -Unknown

Love doesn't end with death.

Love doesn't end.

Love goes on, if only in your heart.

You've heard of people carrying "torches" for another.

That really means, they continue to carry love in their hearts for them.

Love goes on, it never ends.

Love is Feeding & Tending

Citing John 21:17, "The third time he said to him, 'Simon, son of John, do you love me?' Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, 'Do you love me?' He said, 'Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.' Jesus said, 'Feed my sheep.'"

Andrew Murray said: "Love was the first and highest condition for him to feed His sheep and care for His lambs....in all our work for Him and in our care for souls, the greatest thing is love...Christ will manifest himself to love, and only love will make you fit for feeding His sheep and tending His lambs." (p. 63,64, The Believer's Secret of the Abiding Presence)

There is Happiness in Loving

"There is only one happiness in life -- to love and to be loved." George Sand

You want to be happy? Who doesn't?

But, how to be happy, that is the question.

This answers that. You want to be happy: LOVE.

Love and you will be loved.

Therein, you will find happiness.

Do not seek happiness on it's own, it will disappoint you.

But, discover happiness as you seek to love.

Love & Happiness

"With love one can live even without happiness." Feodor Dostoevski

Make your goal today loving not on happiness.

Happiness is a good thing. But, let it be a by product of your loving.

Don't get confused with your goals, it's not to be happy, its to be loving.

It's Easier to Love

I thought, "Why can't people love each other?" After another day of hearing people's marital problems, I thought how much easier it would be for them to love. It takes so much effort to argue and fight. The amount of effort that is going into their fighting would be relieved by simply loving. Think about that the next time you start fighting. It's easier to love. Simplify you life: LOVE.

Love Covers

Proverbs 10:12, "Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers all wrongs."

The footnotes in The Fruit of the Spirit Bible says: "Hatred stirs...but love covers...Hate agitates...love pacifies; hate boils...love sails on a placid sea of forgiveness...hate spreads its cancerous tentacles...love removes the ugly tissue of resentment and replaces it with the clean, healed tissue of health." (p. 743)

Love & Courage

"Hate is easy; Love takes courage." -Unknown

Don't be a slacker. Anybody can hate. You don't even have to think about it. It can happen naturally.

Live courageously: LOVE!

Love & Blindness

"It is not love, but lack of love which is blind." Glenway Wescott

We've all heard, "love is blind." It's a lot like "justice is blind."

Glenway Wescott thinks the opposite. Not having love is living without your eyes open.

Lacking love is being blind to what is around you.

Think anew. Open your eyes: LOVE.

Expectations & Giving

"Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get - only with what you are expecting to give --- which is everything." Katherine Hepburn

Be willing to give it all.

Expect nothing.

Then, you will know love for sure.

Love is Immortality

"Unable are the Loved to die, For Love is immortality." -Emily Dickinson

Love is immortality, and isn't that what we want?

Live on in your love. It does not die.

You will, but it won't.

Learning to Love By Loving

"We can only learn to love by loving." Iris Murdoch

It's a practice we must start: Learn to love by loving.

No, you won't be perfect.

No, you won't always do it right, or at the right time.

But, don't miss the blessing of trying to learn to love.

Love & Life

"Where there is love there is life." Mahatma Gandhi

Love comes from life. Life is the mother/giver of love.

Birth love today. Bring love forth and see if there is not more of life, in you, in others, in life itself.

Aliveness

"We are most alive when we're in love." John Updike

Be alive today. Be in love. Be loving. Receive love. Offer love.

Live & Love!

Loving & Pardoning

"Love truth but pardon error." Voltaire

Oh Voltaire, how you get it right!

One cannot always know the truth, but one can pardon error.

Remember that today.

Don't get it confused, and love error; but love truth and pardon error.