I know a lot of you never expected to ever read those words from me...but over the past few days I have come to realize a few things and have come to appreciate some things about myself and some truths of life.
For all you Pacific North Westerners don't despair...cause there is one simple fact, Oregon will always be myhome and more importantly my heart will always be in Oregon. There is no way around that. Oregon is where I am from and it is where the majority of my life and my own personal history took place. I will forever be grateful for being from Oregon...most importantly from Eastern Oregon. I will most likely always long for the mountains and high desert landscape of that region of the world. However, I must remember while that is were I am from it is no longer where I am at...
Now I am in Virginia...the birthplace of America. The original colony. The most history. And most importantly the place that is said to be for lovers...at least that is according to most of the bumper stickers and t-shirts that get sold in most of the gift shops!
Honestly though it must be true...Virginia is for Lovers...for no other reason than because I live here now! I have been reading about the love of Christ a lot lately. What has hit me the most is not how much He loves me (which is incredible by the way and completely amazing), but what has affected me the most is the Lord's charge for us to be love, His love to the world...
And that got me thinking...why don't we do a better job of this? I mean it is the Lord's greatest commandment to love one another as Christ loves us. A fairly simple instruction...but terribly hard to execute for most of us. What amazes me is how stingy we are about even just simply using the word "love" or even telling another person that we "love them".
We tend to put rules and regulations on that word "love"...that it should only be used when you "really mean it" and that you should only say it to certain people...otherwise some how it won't mean as much if we just go around and tell each other that we "love each other"...
But isn't "love" just a four letter word in the English? Does it really possess and more or any less power than any other word in our vocabulary? Isn't the true meaning of words really taken from the intentions and actions behind the words being spoken?
I think so anyway...
Love is a daily choice...a choice to act upon the greatest commandment that God has given us...to get up and go out and share His love with the world. We all need to realize that every person who lives in this world is deserving of our love...no qualifications, no rules, no requirements...the deserve our love because God loves them just as He loves us.
We have all been created in His image and each of us needs to daily remember to choose love when we get up in the morning. We should remember that we ourselves are love...we are loving...and most importantly we are lovable.
We all forget that part about ourselves...that we all are love, loving, and lovable...the important thing to remember is that we all need to be reminded of this from time to time. So this week look yourself in the mirror each morning and choose love...choose to love yourself as God loves you, so that you can then go out each day and love all others around you..not just the ones you have good "feelings" for...but everyone you meet. You never know when you will run across someone you really needs to be reminded of the love that is inside of them...
I know that it is something I have forgotten a lot lately...but thankfully I live in Virginia now...the place for lovers. And me, well me...I am love, loving, and dang it I am pretty darn lovable!!
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