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Let your actions be motivated by love

Penned on March 20, 2012

Can I share a secret with you? It’s a dirty secret…one I’m pretty ashamed of. But I feel like I need to share it because I have a feeling I’m not the only one who has this secret.

{Deep breath in} Here it is. Here’s my dirty little secret…

Sometimes I want to be really ugly. Say ugly things. Mean things.

Because the truth is, I get tired of the games people play.

UCLA Yell Leader © by JMR_Photography

I’m typically quiet by nature. I’ve always been that way. The only time I let my hair down and cut loose is when I’m around people I’m most comfortable with–usually very close friends or family.

But there are times when I’d like to be just as ridiculous as others. I’d like to tell them exactly what I think about the foolish–childish–games they play.

This isn’t Christ-like. I know. I know.

And yet I struggle with this very thing right now.

I’m struggling with being Christ-like in a world that is filled with people who label themselves “Christian” yet do not exude Christ.

It’s just plain wrong.

What’s even worse is when a “Christian” starts pointing their finger at others, telling them all the ways they err, and how they should humble themselves and display Godly love and character, when they themselves aren’t living it.

It’s disheartening. It’s hard. It’s in the middle of this mixed-up mess I’m rediscovering Eucharisteo once again.

See, God is love. And when I step into that Love, I find mercy. Mercy for myself. Mercy for those who look down their noses. Mercy for those who persecute me and others.

In His Love, I am reminded that I am but a sinner saved by His grace. He encourages me to love as He loves. And to forgive and make peace.

So when I begin to feel negatively stirred, I transplant myself back into His love. I remind myself that God is love, and because He is love, I must love. Regardless. I cannot judge. I cannot repay evil for evil.

No matter how hard it might be, I must love. And my actions must be motivated by love.

Not anger. Not spite. Not disdain.

Love.

For further study:

  • Ephesians 2:4
  • Romans 8:39
  • Hebrews 6:10
  • 1 John 4:7-11

Are your actions always motivated by love?

Filed Under: Heart Matters, Life, Spirit
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Finding Joy in the Laundry

Penned on February 21, 2011

towels by sisterlisa, on Pix-O-Sphere

Photo by SisterLisa @ Pixosphere

I pulled the first towel from the basket of clean laundry. Double in half…double over again…triple fold. Rote repetition, but this day I was somehow more focused. Present in the moment.

Eucharisteo.

I extract another lavender-scented towel from the mound. Double…double again…triple fold.

Wait…

What’s that I feel….?

Something’s changed within me. Could it be?

Joy!

Undeniable, uncontrollable…JOY!

Allow me to turn back the time with you to nearly a year ago…

My husband had just returned from his second deployment to Iraq. During the year he’d been overseas, the children and I moved to Tennessee. Life was stressful because of the deployment, but with every passing month, I felt more as though we were carving out our home in a new place.

I became involved at church. For the first time in a very long time, I finally felt like I belonged; my life had purpose and meaning.

And then it was all ripped away.

When my husband returned home, he went back to work and moved the children and me back to Louisiana.

I was miserable. Sad. Angry. Resentful.

How could God pluck me from the place where I’d grown so much in a year’s time, only to replant me back in the place where I did not want to be? How dare He?!

And then there was the one question that haunted my every waking moment: If God really loves me, how could He do this to me?

Mourning filled the days. I cried myself asleep many nights, begging God to return me to that place of safety and love.

But it didn’t happen.

Grief replaced joy. And I truly didn’t believe I’d experience joy again.

I was wrong. God’s ways are so much higher than our own.

Laundry by megs3782, on Pix-O-Sphere
Photo by Meghan Tucker @ Pixosphere

In January, I joined a challenge to read the Bible through in 90 days. God pulled out His brillo pad and started scrubbing away the grime and crud caked on my heart.

Then last week, I started reading Ann Voskamp’s One Thousand Gifts. With each chapter read, my vision becomes clearer. Oh, what miraculous changes are happening in me!!

Each day, my list of God Gifts grows. I’m starting to finally see the little gifts I’m blessed with every single day.

I’m learning to live in the moment.

I’m no longer wishing away every day, longing to be in some other space.

Eucharisteo.

I’m learning to live in grace. I’m learning to be thankful—in everything. I’m re-birthing joy!

Funny, how God brings awareness in the simplest of things. Like finding joy in the laundry.

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Filed Under: Life, Spirit
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