We love our mom and dad, members of our family, and when we marry we are in love with our spouse. We even love our pets, too. There are different ways of showing our love in different relationships.

But what is love?  What do we expect from people we love? Why do we draw to certain people? What do we give them?

When asked to write on love, I thought to myself, how do I explain love in words? Love can be feelings, it can be actions, or it can be commitments.  Well, God is love. “We love because He first loved us”, 1 John 4:29. It says in 1 John 4:17 “And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect.”

In Galatians 5, it talks about the Fruit of the Spirit, the first fruit is love, then it goes on to joy, peace, patience, faithfulness, goodness, gentleness, goodness, and discipline.

As we accept Jesus, we also have the Holy Spirit in our heart. There is much more to love: Jesus loved us. He sacrificed through much pain to set us free from our sins.

We too, suffer pain in different ways for our loved ones. They do for us as well.  Sometimes it is hard to love someone who has hurt us but God has that covered too. They may not be enemies but at the time it might seem like they are.  Just pray for them and you both will be set free from anger or bitterness.  Remember you might have hurt someone and might want to be set free, too. Always praise God and thank Him.  Let God know you love Him and all will be well.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for your son, Jesus Christ, who sacrificed His life for us, to set us free from our sins.  Thank you Lord for the Holy Spirit, you give us the fruit of love to give and receive.  We love you dear Father.

Amen and Amen.

Carol Cotant

Galatians 5:22-23

” But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. There is no law against these things.”

So… shall I  write about God’s love in us with Paul’s concept of fruit ?  Nope. It’s been done.
Instead, God has lit a flickering light down a different path.  Join me.

Have you ever tried to define love? 
It’s nearly as hard as defining God. Makes sense when you grasp the fact that God is love.
Not just that God loves, independently of who he is… He can’t, because Love; pure love, & God is one in the same. 
Try anyway…define love. 

I tried.  Poems, song lyrics, scripture; they all crossed my mind. 
But trying to do so with my own thoughts, I drew a blank. That’s scary. 
I prayed and asked God to speak of His love to me, and of my love for others. 
Soon, I came across a quote from John Muir Law. 
” A useful way to define love is sustained compassionate attention. 
Paying sincere attention to, and developing a rich curiosity about others helps us to be kind.”
 Sustained~ Compassionate ~Attention~ Sincere Attention~Rich curiosity about OTHERS! 

I actually swooned inside when I thought of this kind of relationship. This is what I long to give & receive. 
But there’s a problem…ME. 
God help me to see the truth in this. 
Help us to see the love that You have produced in Your body of believers .
When God sent His Spirit to live in us, He was sending His Love to live in us.
 As we embrace the fact that Love is God, from God, to reconcile us to God; 
we  can begin to allow it to produce a sincere love in us for others as well.

What did you think of when you read this quote by John Muir Law?
I saw the many times I half listened to someone as I looked at my cell phone, or planned a response I’d give once they were done.
How many excited smiles have I missed while Harvey related his thoughts to me?
How many lines of concern have creased my husband’s brow as he shared his day with me,
only to be met with a grunt of acknowledgment instead of a true interest?
I think that’s why this quote struck my heart so hard. It revealed my lackluster love. 

Real love is produced in us by God, but it takes our full cooperation. We need to be invested in it’s harvest just as Jesus is invested in us.
So, the next time Harvey told me a story, I stared at his face. I saw his eyes glimmer with excitement, his breath quicken, his body bounce up and down as he re~lived his tale. I asked sincere questions that filled him with pure joy. At that moment…He knew he was loved, and so did I.

Remember…Sustained~ Compassionate ~Attention ~Sincere Attention~Rich curiosity about OTHERS! 
 Let’s all embrace this as we love others the way Jesus loves us.

~Sonya Palumbo

What is
your joy?

“Praise the Lord. Sing to the Lord a NEW song, His praise in the assembly of His faithful people.” Psalm 149

Joy is… being in His Presence. It’s like taking a clean and refreshing morning  shower, getting drenched in Jesus, the living water, until His Presence pours out from us to others. “This is the day the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118: 24

Joy is… giving  us all the courage we need to be all that God created us to be. We don’t have to have all the answers.  We just have to stay connected to the one who does. “Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord.” Psalm 31: 24

Joy is… making good choices and decisions.  God smiling. Lord, help me make a decision today  that will draw me closer to you. “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10

Joy is…  your boundless love that sees me and accepts me as I am, warts and all. When I wake up in the morning, look in the mirror, and don’t like what I see. “You will fill me with joy in your presence.” Psalm 16:11

Joy is… knowing you are free. It’s not about having it all. It’s about having what matters.“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” John 8:36

Joy is… laughter with a friend.  Laughter is to life what shock absorbers are to cars. It won’t take the pot holes out of the road, but it sure makes the ride smoother. “A cheerful heart is good medicine.” Proverbs 17: 22

Joy is… knowing that our only safety comes from trusting God through everything. “Weeping may last for the night, but joy comes in the morning.” Psalm  30: 5

Joy is …knowing how honored we are as one of His redeemed. Even if we mess up and feel undeserving, the Lord is at our right hand. “The Lord takes delight in His people.” Psalm 149:4

Joy is… Walking outside in God’s creation, energetic and alive in a wildly wonderful world. “You shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace. The mountains and the hills shall burst forth in song before you, and all the trees of the fields will clap their hands.” Isaiah 55: 12.

Joy is…” whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; So that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing. “James 1:2-4

Joy is…  knowing the Lord is our Provider, our Protector, our Defender. Knowing this, we are sent out in the world to further God’s cause. “God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble.” Psalm 46:1

Susan Hurd

Wandering into the living room as the late afternoon sun filtered through the west windows, my eyes focused on the cathedral window quilt draped over the back of the sofa. My mother-in-law Elizabeth created this quilt for her grandson, and presented it to his parents on his third birthday. She stipulated  it was to be given to our son on his wedding day.  Each window was created with scraps of a lifetime of sewing projects.  Bathed in light, the fabrics tucked into the diamond shaped window created an eye catching pattern resembling stained glass. An aha moment!  Churches encouraging creative souls. Timeless inspiration. Breathtaking. I can feel my heart beating faster as I am envisioning the hundreds of hours it must have taken to piece each together by hand.  Even the bits and pieces of fabric becoming a  human connector.

Overwhelmed, I read the accompanying card, “Life is the gift one generation presents to the next.  This quilt is a symbol of that life.  It is made of many parts-each different, some bright, some dull; some beautiful, some plain; some rough, some smooth-but they are all connected, all dependent on each other and equally responsible for making a whole. 

“This quilt,” she said, “is not perfect and neither is life. We hope you will keep seeking. As you live your life sharing whatever is yours, may the stitches in this quilt remind you of the caring of all those who have lived before you.” Signed, With our love, Grandmother Betty and Grandfather Jerry. A blessing shared.   Embroidered words from a Robert Frost poem near the bottom foretelling, “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood. I took the one less traveled by and that has made all the difference.” A blessing shared. A prophesy declared. The journey is ours to make. Decisions. Choices.

     Not unlike like the body of Christ.  The foot, the hands, the heart and mind build the whole, each with a part to play.  Not perfect; growing pains for sure. Broken stained glass creating a redemptive masterpiece.  Twists and turns in the journey and the path ahead diverges.  Decisions. Choices.  

Father God, thank you for the blessing of a legacy.

Digging Deeper:  Psalm 66:8-9

Susan Hurd

Our senses are peaked and on high alert! My husband and I had just pulled into the parking lot at  Audubon’s Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary for a 10:30 am  guided discovery hike.  From the Audubon Center, the 2.5 mile hike along the boardwalk meanders through pine flatwoods, open praire, wetlands, a strand of pond cypress, and finally into a forest of ancient bald cypress, where massive giants tower 100 feet into the sky. While waiting for the guide, we joined a group of eager naturalists to observe a flock of strikingly colored Indigo buntings winging to the feeders outside the porch off the building near the trailhead. “Oh look,”someone exclaimed!  A red bellied woodpecker with a bright red head zoomed in for a quick snack.  

Expectations were already running high among the group gathered.  This morning’s hike promises adventure and sightings of flora and fauna along the route.  Sun on our shoulders, together we meander through just a portion of the 13,000 acres of pristine wilderness. “Do you see the circles in the water?”, our guide exclaims enthusiastically, “Bait fish jumping; food for the herons, egrets, the wading birds we’d been spotting along the trail. Following the boardwalk we spied a young alligator lounging on a wide floating sea of water lettuce.  Do you realize those sabal palms you see all around us are Florida’s state trees. They are so slow growing, the roots alone take 15 years! They are older than you would imagine from just looking at them,” our guide shared. “Beneath the surface an expansive system of roots provide cover for crayfish, tilapia, and other small fish.”  

Moving forward, we linger and admire the impressive bald cypress, adorned with bromeliads, vines and orchids. Senses, now wide awake, our guide pointed out one of my favorite discoveries, “Look at the brown, dry, dead looking vine, crawling up that bald cypress over yonder.  This remarkable plant reveals rainfall and returns to a vibrant green just thirty minutes after it rains. Called the Resurrection Fern, it is quite amazing, “she exclaimed. “In dry periods it looks to be dead and springs to life when the overcast sky delivers rain.”

As I journey along my life’s path today, encourage me to look through your eyes, Lord, and to speak your words of faith into peoples’ lives. Embolden me to be more like Sherlock Holmes! Awaken my senses and make me more aware of how to use your words to encourage my neighbors.  And by neighbor, I mean anyone who not only lives next door, but someone God is calling me to notice within my sphere of influence this day. Let me learn to see what Jesus sees as I engage with others along my life path. Juggle my brain to pray the 3-open prayer “Lord, open a door; Lord, open their heart; Lord, open my mouth”—Thank you, Ron Hutchcraft.  Help me to tell my story and possibly, just possibly, God could use it to change their story…perhaps forever.  We just do the footwork, and trust God for the results.

 Deep roots in Christ, like those of the Florida Sabal palm trees, often take years to grow, develop and become that strong foundation as we live our lives and grow up in Him. As we dig into the nourishing soil of God’s Word in the Bible, our roots keep growing deeper and our faith gets invigorated. 1 John 5:  14-15 “Now this is the confidence we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.  And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.”NKJV 

Susan Hurd

Holy Spirit Breath Meditation
8-6-19

–

Holy Spirit, You are the very breath we breathe. Without You, we would die. You come, You reside within us. You, as the air we breathe, come and renew our blood. You, along with Jesus Christ and with our Heavenly Father, are one. And as You enter us with Your breath, You bring life. Then our blood – Jesus’ blood mixed with ours – brings that Breath of Life throughout our whole bodies, to every cell: from the tips of our fingers and toes to the very top of our heads, and to our vital organs deep within.

This life You bring is for us, to renew and refresh us. It is ours. This living Breath heals, and it brings that which we no longer need back to our hearts and lungs. It takes the waste from our cells and carried on our bloodstream, brings it back to our heart and lungs. This Blood is that of You mixed with that of us. As we exhale, this Breath brings life to the plants around us.

Our very existence is the ebb and flow of Spirit – breathing in, we are blessed. Breathing out, our lives combine with Yours to bless others. This is Your creation, all on earth working together for the glory of God. We are not (merely) our own. Your blood, dear Jesus, flows through our veins, bringing needed nourishment and taking away what we need to release.

What we have learned blesses others. How You have changed us blesses them in ways we may never know. We release what we no longer need, and this gives life to others. It is toxic to hold on to that which You are releasing within us, because the release from hurts, sins and death, has been given to be shared with others.

Thank You, Lord, for your abundant provision, and for creating something useful out of our leftovers.
Amen

Arla Clouser