Examine

"The unexamined life is not worth living." Socrates

Examine today your love life.

Examine how you give love.

Examine how you receive love.

Now is a good time to think of how you can be a better lover of life and others.

Love & Persistence

"The art of love is largely the art of persistence." Albert Ellis

Just being there...just still being there...you can frame that as love.

Persistence is the tenacity to still be there, when others are gone, when you don't agree, when you don't feel well, when you don't have the energy. Persistence, like love, is still being there.

Be there for someone today. Persist, love does.

But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. (Romans 8:25)

Love Came Down

I heard a hymn sang at Christmas: Love Came Down At Christmas. (Christina Rosetti, 1830-1894)

The words read:

Love came down at Christmas,

Love all lovely, love divine;

Love was born at Christmas,

Stars and angels gave the sign.

The second verse had a phrase I liked: Love incarnate, love divine.

Love came down and it never left. Look for love today. Let it be apparent.

Love to Love

"We don't love to be loved; we love to love." Leo Buscaglia

Love to love, what a great thought.

Make it your heart's desire...not to be loved, but to give love.

Give it away today - with no thought of return.

But, be careful, what you give away, make come back around to you.

Love loving!

Need or Desire?

"A baby is born with a need to be loved - and never outgrows it." Frank Howard Clark

That's what Frank Clark said. Are you born with an inbred need for love? They say babies need nurture, cuddling...love. They thrive better. Their mortality rate is better. I think we can all agree, we need love. If we all need love, then we never outgrow that need. We don't grow beyond it. We don't become mature, and no longer desire it. You always need it. You never outgrow it.

It's a non-negotiable. It's a done deal. Just because you don't have something, doesn't mean you don't need it.

Cultivate Love

"Love does not dominate; it cultivates." Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Christ did not come to conquer but to love.

He came to cultivate as He spoke to people about a sower sowing seeds. He wanted to cultivate a garden of people, not lock them up in rules and regulations. God started mankind in a garden, and He cultivated them there. Think of God, and Love, as cultivating...trying to grow up seeds, trying to prune back wayward branches. He just needs good soil. Be receptive to cultivation. Let Him till your heart's soil. Be an environment that is receptive to cultivation, especially love!

Immanuel

"For unto us a Child is born,

Unto us a Son is given,

And the government will be upon His shoulders.

And His name will be called ~

WONDERFUL, COUNSELOR, MIGHTY GOD, EVERLASTING FATHER, PRINCE OF PEACE."

(Isaiah 9:6)

Isaiah prophesied this around 700 years before Christ birth, which we mark this day. It doesn't mean He was born on this particular day. But, it reveals that the historical person documented in so many nation's records was born, and it was prophesied. It's a mighty thing to comprehend. His name (also prophesied in Isaiah 7:14) tells it all, "Immanuel," meaning God with us. If God is Love as I John 8 tells us, then Love is with us. I John 4:16 went on to say, "And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him." Immanuel. God be with us.