39 to 39: Love

I didn't expect it to be so hard to faithfully blog. All day long, I think of fun things to journal and share. I jot them down on pieces of paper. When the day finally winds down, my kids are in bed and I have time to write... I can't find the slips of paper. I can't tell my husband because he gets frustrated that I have an expensive iphone with all kinds of automated applications which will allow me to hold my "notes" and save them in one place until later... no slips of paper. But, I'm old fashioned and I write the thoughts (gems) on the back of envelopes and on check stubs, then in my mad rush to clean up... I throw them away.

Tonight I had a gem that lingered and didn't need to be written down for fear of being forgotten. Love. At youth group tonight we talked about love. Love... God's way! The act of loving your enemy and praying for those who persecute you. I was amazed by the intensity in the room when we began to talk about loving our enemies. One of our leaders gave the following instruction: write down a name of someone who has hurt you and then list the five love languages... then consider taking a step toward loving him/her in one of those ways. The five love languages are: physical touch, gifts, quality time, acts of service and words of affirmation. It was amazing to watch the teens squirm. They physically recoiled at the thought of loving their enemy.

I found their example humbling. Earlier in the day I was meditating the idea of love. All I could think was that God was love. And Christ as the God in flesh was love. And that as a Christian I was to be like Christ. I pondered how people were drawn to Christ. I imagine that people felt completely loved by him, completely safe, and completely vulnerable in his sight. It also made me realize why the Pharasees hated him so much. When they were in His presence they saw their complete selves. They saw their faults and they hated Jesus for it. As Christ-followers we are to emulate Christ in our behavior. We are not God but we are in the pursuit of looking like Him. I want to pray for those who hurt me, and love those who hate me. I want to be so loving that people feel safe and unarmed in my presence. I want others to see Jesus in me.

I can wax eloquent all I want... but I remain humbled: when I find myself frustrated that my living room was left a mess after youth group; when I yell at my dog to stop barking; and when I want to acknowledgement for my accomplishments. So those are my gems for today!