Love- a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person; a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a parent, child, or friend; affectionate concern for the well-being of others.
Hmm...where to start this week. This is supposed to be one of those topics I should be able to go on and on about but there was so much for me to take in that I'm not sure where to start. I guess day one is as good as any although I won't go into too much detail for one, your intimate relationship with your spouse is your business and for two, my mother reads this so there will be no share time on this topic! :) I will, however, tell you I found all of day one interesting. I guess because sex is every where these days and its all people can talk about, that you just take it for granted. You forget that it's one of the most precious gifts God gave us to share will our spouse. Its the one thing a wife can give her husband that no one else can give and vice versa. It just made me revisit the real reason for an intimate relationship.
Day two was my favorite! I found myself nodding my head a lot because when you that one friend or friends that you are just bonded to, there is nothing like it. It is so powerful! You hear all the sappy sayings 'when you're hurt, I hurt,' or 'when you're happy, I'm happy.' I roll my eyes but it is the truth. I have been known to be right there beside a friend when they have just experienced some tragic in their lives and I feel like it has happened to me. Just the same when they have had something amazing happen to them, I have a grin on my face for days because I know they're happy. I consider my friends my family as I'm sure you do too. They are just life's best gifts!
Characteristics of Agape. I loved the way Beth presented this. It was nice for me to really focus on each one and remind myself how I ought to be. The one I am constantly having to remind myself of is being patient. I try with every bone in my body to have patience for people and most of the time I do, but God really likes to test me. Especially when I am driving down the road. He will usually pick a day when I'm running a little later than normal and put an elderly person out for their morning stroll or a huge tractor in front of me and make it impossible to pass. My road rage switch turns on and it is all I can do not to mow over them. They make it impossible for me to "live peaceably with everyone." I was just tested this week and I told God that today was not a good day to test me because I would fail miserably! He didn't listen and I was forced to take a deep breath and take in the scenery!
Day four just continued with the characteristics of agape and I found myself stopping at Proverbs 21:19 and reading it out loud to Brent. Bless his heart, my "gift" came this week and I have done nothing but complain and start silly fights. I mean the devil just grabs me for a few days without me realizing it and I grow horns and spit fire. He of course laughed but I felt really bad for my behavior. It was definitely a God thing that I would read this the first day of my "gift." I had to remind myself to check my anger because biting ones head off is not a sign of love.
Reading how Christ shows His love to us was a perfect way to end the week. Giving up His life was enough, but to do all those other things just to make sure we know how deep His love runs was just overwhelming. To know He prays for me was pretty special. I feel praying for others shows how much you care about that person and their well being. I find myself praying for just about everyone that I have every come in contact with and those I read about in the news. My list gets longer and longer everyday because I never want to miss an opportunity to pray for protection and blessings over those people. Prayer is just so powerful and I have never really thought about Jesus praying for me, but hey I'll take all the help I can get!
Ladies, I hope you learned something new about God's love for you and how we are called to love each other. It's a powerful emotion and I hope we all use it wisely.
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Thanks for the great post Kace! I feel that we do take love for granted way too often. Not just with our significant others, but with our friends and family as well. I feel it is one of the greatest blessings to find friends you feel comfortable enough with to share your struggles and triumphs in our spiritual journeys. I feel we sometimes build a stronger bond to God in times of struggle when we are comforted by those He places in our lives. A few months ago I felt as if God had abandoned me and my family on the day we found out about Mom’s breast cancer. I knew better deep down, but the initial shock of it all was devastating. As we learned more and more about treatment plans and met all the doctors that would be taking care of Mom, we knew God was in control. Day by day we prayed and a peace came over us all letting us know He was going to take care of her. Looking back upon the events that led up to her diagnosis, I can tell He was in control all along. If she had been diagnosed one year earlier, I would not have had the wedding of my dreams come to a reality. It’s truly amazing to see God working in my life and the lives of those around me. I feel so blessed to have such a supportive group of friends and family. I don’t tell you all enough how much I love you, but I do!!!
ReplyDeleteIt's always interesting to hear or read other's perspectives on the daily Bible study lessons. The way it speaks to us differently because of what we're going through or dealing with.
ReplyDeleteLove seems so simple and yet it's so complex. I love coffee, but definitely not the same way that I love John, we really do overuse the word. And it's always humbling when I read what love is NOT--since I seem to see more of those qualities in me than what love IS.
The statement "Love does not expose the faults of others." Wow! How many times a day do we get caught up in exposing others faults? Kacie probably won't remember because it may have made more of an impact on me than her but, when she was in high school we made a pact to call each other out anytime we made a comment about someone. I thought this would really "help" her but, what actually happened was my eyes were opened to the "help" I also needed. It's good to hold each other
accountable as long as we're doing it in love. This was a good week and next week is going to be good too as we study Joy!
Have a great week girls and thank you for letting me participate!