I was reading bedtime books to some of the dear children in my life on Thursday, and was surprised by the wisdom I found in a Clifford story. As a puppy, Clifford kept hearing people using the word "love" in different contexts but was trying to figure out what it meant. "I love you" - "I love playing with you" - "I love when people fill my food bowl" - what was this thing called love? But by the end, as his owner/best friend Emily Elizabeth is holding him and scratching him under the chin, she says "I love you, Clifford" - and he realizes, love is this happy feeling of being with people who care about you.
It's true, and I've felt that a lot lately. The last few days I've been surrounded by the important people in my life, and have felt so loved as dear friends celebrated my birthday in so many wonderful ways. Love is revealing and celebrating the beauty we see in eachother. Love is talking and listening to the deep things on our hearts. Love is simply being together, not needing words at all. Love is laughing until our stomachs hurt - and then laughing some more.
Love isn't only happy feelings, though. Love is being there in the hurts and heartbreaks, sharing the tears and trials that life brings. Love is carrying those things for eachother and with eachother - things that we cannot fix, but that we can bring to Jesus together. Love is caring for one another even when we don't know how.
Love is being there - sharing in the joys and the sorrows and everything in between. We all have our highs and lows, our excitements and frustrations. We won't feel good all the time - but part of the beauty of community is coming together with our conglomeration of feelings and experiences (good and bad) and being real with eachother, even when it's not pretty. In doing so, we allow eachother to enter in and be Jesus to us. And that is the best gift of all.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Things that give me Life
I am reminded of the things that God has placed in my life that make me feel most alive and good and at peace with myself and the world. I too easily forget about them at times, but this week I was reminded of them in abundance.
1) Connecting with people - Sharing deep conversations about the things that are on our hearts and listening to and encouraging one another is such a beautiful expression of community that fills me like nothing else.
2) Celebrating - Being caught up in joy over the special and the ordinary is so important, letting belly laughs and ridiculousness work as medicine to revive the soul.
3) Playing with children - Spending time with kids never fails to lift my heart, make me laugh, and help me appreciate the little things in life.
4) Walking around my neighborhood - Walking the streets and alleys of what some would call an abandoned place is always therapy, where I find beauty and joy in what is and see hope in the possibilities for what could be.
5) Dreaming about the future - Contemplating the bigger dreams that God has placed on our hearts amidst the day-to-day routine gives me renewed excitement and inspiration for the Kingdom that is coming.
6) Being present and in touch with God - Taking time to simply be with God and allow God to change my heart grounds me and helps me find freedom from the things that hold me down.
When I recognize these as things that I need and strike a good balance of them in my life, I feel most alive and fully myself and I am better able to be what others need. I want to live in such a way that I intentionally seek to cultivate these life-giving experiences as part of my everyday, while also learning to not be dependent on them.
1) Connecting with people - Sharing deep conversations about the things that are on our hearts and listening to and encouraging one another is such a beautiful expression of community that fills me like nothing else.
2) Celebrating - Being caught up in joy over the special and the ordinary is so important, letting belly laughs and ridiculousness work as medicine to revive the soul.
3) Playing with children - Spending time with kids never fails to lift my heart, make me laugh, and help me appreciate the little things in life.
4) Walking around my neighborhood - Walking the streets and alleys of what some would call an abandoned place is always therapy, where I find beauty and joy in what is and see hope in the possibilities for what could be.
5) Dreaming about the future - Contemplating the bigger dreams that God has placed on our hearts amidst the day-to-day routine gives me renewed excitement and inspiration for the Kingdom that is coming.
6) Being present and in touch with God - Taking time to simply be with God and allow God to change my heart grounds me and helps me find freedom from the things that hold me down.
When I recognize these as things that I need and strike a good balance of them in my life, I feel most alive and fully myself and I am better able to be what others need. I want to live in such a way that I intentionally seek to cultivate these life-giving experiences as part of my everyday, while also learning to not be dependent on them.
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