Heaven...

Be on your guard, stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. Do everthing in love. 1 Corinthians 16:14


Do everything in love...Man do I mess that up sometimes. Even when I hear Him whisper--Natalie, don't do that; it has nothing to do with love.... Even when I hear Him say--Natalie, it doesn't matter; you don't need to be heard; your motives aren't rooted in love. Even when I hear Him yell--Natalie, rise above it! Rise above your feelings, your emotions; remain in love...I still mess it up. That human need to be heard, to be understood, to make my point, to want... can OOZE from me. And I end up taking an action that has NOTHING to do with Love. I'm not going to beat myself up over it--no 30 lashes on the hand for every self-motivated action. :) But I just got to wondering...what would life be like if we all did EVERYTHING in love. What if we were to rise above our needs to be heard, to compete, to hide our insecurities, to want more than we need--what if we could just rise above ourselves and DO EVERYTHING IN LOVE? What could be possible? Might we be able to end hunger, help orphans, stop wars?



When I think of it on a large-scale like this, it seems overwhelming, impossible--EVERYONE doing EVERYTHING in LOVE. But large scale things start small, right--one person at a time? And so my thinking returns to me. What if I committ to DOING EVERTHING in LOVE? What if I asked God everyday to help me do this? What would my life look like--sweeter words, purer thoughts, more self-less actions--until there was less and less of me and more and more of Christ to see.

Isn't that the journey we are on...

"And then take on an entirely new way of life—a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you." (Ephesians 4:22-24 The Message)

Reproduces His character in me...so that I might do everything in love. Oh what a life that would be...

Not an impossible life...but certainly a life that can only be lived by choice and through God...a decision to do things, all things in love--to speak in love, pray in love, write in love, think in love, act in love, help in love. Imagine if we were to choose to love like this...imagine the GLORY GOD would receive...imagine what life would be like...HEAVEN!


<3