Is it really February already? I could hardly wait for Christmas and when it finally got here it flew by faster than a Georgia snowstorm. Time doesn't really speed up or slow down but it seems to. The things we look forward to come slowly and the things we dread come quickly.
Finding a way to look forward to each day will bring better use of the time God has given us and make our lives full and rich. If you dread getting up in the morning, for instance, you will find ways to stay up later at night to delay the coming of tomorrow. Then when you finally go to bed, sleep will come slowly and you will get up un-refreshed and be tired all day from a lack of quality sleep. This cycle affects the body negatively adding more stress and tears down the immune system and can actually make you sick. Thus brings the truth of the cliché "sick and tired". Sound familiar?
Don't misunderstand me, I haven't got all the answers either but at least I have figured out what questions to ask and who has the answer. This may sound cliché but it is in fact the most pure truth from God's word; Love is the answer. Jesus taught us that all the commandments could be expressed in two, to Love Him and to Love others.
When real love exists you will find yourself happy all the time. You will look forward to each and every moment of your life. When real love exists there is no prejudice, or competition that hurts someone. You will take on a new set of attitudes that exalt others above yourself. You will find yourself holding the door to allow someone else to go first. Real love brings peace in the world; an end to fighting and unrest among countries and even families. Real love conquers all our fears and replaces them with real joy.
The Bible is a book of Love. This passage of scripture is just one of many on the subject of Real Love.
I John 4: 7-21 New Living Translation
Loving One Another
7 Dear friends, let us continue
to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves
is a child of God and knows God. 8 But anyone who does not love
does not know God, for God is love. 9 God showed how much He loved
us by sending His one and only Son into the world so that we might
have eternal life through Him. 10 This is real love-not that we
loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice
to take away our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God loved us that
much, we surely ought to love each other. 12 No one has ever seen
God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and His love
is brought to full expression in us. 13 And God has given us His
Spirit as proof that we live in Him and He in us. 14 Furthermore,
we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father
sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 All who confess
that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they
live in God. 16 We know how much God loves us, and we have put
our trust in His love. God is love, and all who live in love live
in God, and God lives in them. 17 And as we live in God, our love
grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment,
but we can face Him with confidence because we live like Jesus
here in this world. 18 Such love has no fear, because perfect
love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment,
and this shows that we have not fully experienced His perfect
love. 19 We love each other because He loved us first. 20 If someone
says, "I love God," but hates a Christian brother or
sister, that person is a liar; for if we don't love people we
can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? 21 And He has
given us this command: Those who love God must also love their
Christian brothers and sisters.
