Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Love Is....

I had the nerve not long ago to ask God to give me an understanding of love.  I’m not kidding.  Love always seemed so elusive to me. Something that I admired from afar and never understood.  And I thought in my child mind that God was going to bring into my midst one of the most loving and caring relationships I had ever experienced.  He did but not the way I was thinking at the time. 

Well, God in His wisdom and true love for me brought to my attention that the opposite of evil is still love, the opposite of fear is still love, the opposite of hate is still love and we as human beings have an incredible capacity for both.  For the first time in my life I am keeping my mouth shut and my eyes wide open. I am witnessing story after story of hope, compassion, love and courage, valor and victory and that wee small voice says to me still…love this. 

God is telling me in no uncertain terms that love is and has always been all around and through me.  Jesus is the love I had been searching for.   The most complete and everlasting love.  That kind of love that makes you want to scream and shout and tell the world from the roof tops….”I love!”  The kind of love that makes you laugh out loud and sometimes even quietly giggle.  And cry tears of an absolute joy that cannot be put into mortal words.  That kind of real thing love.  And I’ve had it all along right here.

Love is….

Love is, at the risk of sounding corny, a sunset over the ocean and God’s way of saying thank you for being His obedient servant this day.  For I truly believe that when you can appreciate the red and gold and purple and blue of a perfect sunset you understand that there is really a God that loves you. 

Love is…

Love is the sound of a baby’s laughter.  The child can’t even say his own name yet he already knows how to laugh out loud. Is it just me or doesn’t it make you wonder..…did he learn how to do that in heaven? 

Love is….

Love is that old soldier that stands on the corner with a sign that claims his veteran status and his homelessness.  I give him a couple of quarters every time I see him and I don’t even think that he might be using those quarters to buy a beer.  It is that look on his face when I tell him that Jesus loves him and I  know that I have made his day just a little bit easier and I have planted a seed and that is all that matters. 

Love is…

Love is looking in the mirror and understanding for the first time in your life that God does not make mistakes and that you are truly wonderfully and perfectly made.

Love is…

Love is coming to the understanding that not only is this the greatest story ever told but it is also the greatest love ever to be experienced.  Jesus….the same yesterday, today and forever. 

Love is.

Love is looking at the shining faces of two young people that can’t seem to look at each other without smiling that kind of smile that says that there is a secret that only they know.  A smile that says that they know how to sit quietly together without saying a word yet volumes are spoken between them.  A touch of a hand and plans are made and a future is established.  A twinkle in the eye becomes a declaration that says…”come let us grow old gracefully together.” 

Love is….

So that thing that has always been elusive to me has become crystal clear in my mind and in my spirit.  Love is knowing that Jesus loves us with all of our faults, all of our ugly past, our lumps and bumps and bad decisions.  He has given definition to the word unconditional and has let us know that the two words…love and unconditional are indeed synonymous.  For in order for it to be true love it must be unconditional. And through His unconditional love for me I have learned to love myself. God cannot lie.  And this knowledge alone has freed me to love another human being.

Jesus loves us unconditionally and he will sustain us through many a mistake and bad decision and will always inhabit our praise. 
Love is…
Love is…
Life.
(c) 2009, Arizona Clay, Debi Mason, Tate Publishing LLC

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Lift up holy hands. Prayer changes things!

A word in the midnight hour
A four a.m. toss
Flung from a deep sleep 
Tear stained cheeks
Prayer changes things!


Embarrassed and concerned
Worried and mired in unbelief
Cut down in mid-stride
What's the next call - the next letter
Who wants what, can't have, ain't got
Prayer changes things!


Burdens heavy 
Too heavy
Too complicated 
Too convoluted
Going through
Praising through
Prayer changes things!


Believing for a healing
Something just ain't right here
Prayer changes things!


Needing a renewal and a refreshing
A restored right mind, heart, spirit
Know that trouble don't last always
Prayer changes things!


Lift up those holy hands
Bend those painful knees
Break that stiffened back
Prayer changes things!


You're just climbing higher mountains  (Take somebody with you)
There is strength when you need it
And He comes when you call 




Prayer changes things!