Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Love




my brother made this out of snow.
stay tuned for more 'snow art' that was created this winter.

I read this in my devotions this morning;

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, 
that we should be called children of God."
1 John 3:1

Just soak that in. Dwell on God's love.
then I read this;

"Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue 
but with actions and in truth."
vs. 18

and this;

"And this is His command: 
to believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ,
 and to love one another as He commanded us."
vs. 23

I read all that. It was now in my head. I thought "I need to be loving with my actions." It almost stayed as a thought, never moving to an action. We need to get specific. When God commands us to do something it's easy to be challenged and inspired. But if we don't plan specifically how we're going to accomplish that it's easy for it to get lost in life.

My love needs to be actions. How can I demonstrate love? To whom? Guess who popped into my mind--my family. I clicked my pen open and started writing. I wrote specific ways that I could love each individual family member. today. Within 24 hours. 

They weren't fancy or "super-special". For example, I have a particular brother who loves a good hearty lunch (we've been in the trend of having some delicious salad bars lately...and he isn't too keen on that) and so a way that I can show love to him is to make a good lunch, complete with lots of protein. 

Stop thinking. Start doing.

How is your love going to be put in action today?

"...We should love one another."


7 comments:

Unknown said...

Wow Anna!!! I've read a lot different takes on Valentines Day from all the different blogs I follow ;) But this has to be the one that challenged me the most :)
Thank you so much for posting this... I'm off to make my list right now!!

Anonymous said...

Powerful, Anna! Thanks for sharing and inspiring! Need to put on my "To Do List" to make a list :-)
Love, Mom

iowacowgirl said...

Fantastic post Anna...totally challenging and encouraging all at once! I must say that I find you an incredible example to me of demonstrating Christ's love to ALL those you come in contact with! Grateful for the practical idea on how to allow Him to display His character through me even more! You're amazing Anna!;) Thanks again for the encouragement!

Love You SO MUCH!
Bekah

Anonymous said...

Read the exact same passage , on the exact same day!! My love towards others nearly always stops as a thought, but I know that God is telling me to change!

Such an encouraging post!

In Christ,
Grace

Anonymous said...

Have just come across your blog as I was looking up "Taste of Ellerslie" and have been greatly blessed by it. Keep this up and I totally agree... to love in deeds is definitely a challenge for us...

Bless you :)
steph

Anonymous said...

Cute picture! :-)

Bethany said...

I am really enjoying your blog. I'm a 24 year old single christian gal that currently lives in Texas, and I love reading the blogs of other godly young women! they are so encouraging to me!