Monday, May 6, 2013
Love is Thoughtful - Day 4 - Psalms 139:17-18
3:50 PM | 
Posted by
Dvlstx |
Love is Thoughtful. Have you thought about your spouse today? Have you thought about your relationship? Have you thought about your relationship with God lately? Do you view yourself as thoughtful?
Compare yourself now, back to yourself when you were trying to woo your spouse. Were you thoughtful then? What's different? Are you the same?
I find it very interesting that my posting of this falls on my wife's birthday and I find the very words that I am writing very convicting. In all honesty is quite hard to write this one today, but I know that if I don't write this today, I might just stop writing these. I don't know if anyone reads these, or even cares, but to me I find that writing these and getting into the word a little bit, might get me a jump start back to where I want to be.
I apologize for digressing from the topic, but today is just a very different day for me. In someways I feel that Satan is trying to pull me closer and closer away from God as I am trying to get closer and closer to God. So, I must pull through this. I mention this because the topic at hand is Thoughtful.
Each foot hold the devil gets, is one less foot hold we all have on getting to where we are going. This can be your relationship with your spouse or with God.
Psalm 139:17-18
NLT - "How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me!
NASB - "How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You."
It took me quite a while to really understand what these words were saying. But read the words carefully. God is thinking about you ALWAYS. His thoughts of you cannot be numbered. The thoughts outnumber the grains of sand. No matter when we wake up, God is always there with us.
WOW! If God is thinking about us ALWAYS, it is really hard to imagine the level of Love that God has for us isn't it?
Think way back to when you were wooing your spouse. You thought about your soon to be spouse all the time didn't you? You thought about them when you were awake, and you probably even had dreams about them. No fast forward to right this second. Are you thinking about your spouse? Are you only thinking about them, because you are reading these words and getting you to think about your spouse and how much you actually think about them?
This is really hard for me because I feel that I have lost this thoughtfulness that I once had for my wife. I love my wife beyond what words can say. But, I wonder, why cannot I not match up to the thoughtfulness I once had? Is it because of money? No, because thoughtfulness doesn't always require money. Is it time? No, because if I can find time to write this blog, I surely can find time to do something thoughtful for my wife. Is it energy? No, because if I can find the energy in my day to even straighten up one thing at home, surely I can find a shred of energy to devote to my wife.
Then what is it? I think it is in our nature to devote time, money and energy into our newly found relationship, but once we do and we become married, we find that money, time, and energy for some reason escapes us. But, does it? I don't believe it does. I think we as a society have become inundated with so many things in our life that we lose sight of one of the most critical people in our lives, our spouse.
Think about how much time you spend, "wasting time." Let me put it into perspective. Do you do any of these things on a regular basis? I know I do! Playing on your smartphone, surfing the internet, playing on your tablet/ipad, finding yourself distancing yourself from your spouse to avoid confrontation, finding ways to stay "busy" to avoid something, procrastinating on any task, etc... Me personally, I find myself saying yes to more than one item on this list.
So, what does this say about Love. Does it meant that you don't love your spouse? No. I think that it means that you need to become aware of these time wasters and attention sucking items and remove them. God is thinking about you ALWAYS. Are you thinking about your spouse ALWAYS? Is there something thoughtful that you can do for your spouse that they might not be expecting? When was the last thing you did something thoughtful for your spouse?
Love as I am learning is something that is never meant to be completely mastered. If God wanted us to completely master the art of Love, then he would never have allowed Eve to deceive Adam, or never allow the snake to deceive Eve. For if we were perfect in Love, then our lives would be perfect.
So, as I conclude a blog full of questions, I want to leave you with these thoughts. God loves you more than you could ever count. If God loves us this much, do we love God back the same amount? If God is an integral part of your marriage, do you love your spouse as much as God loves you?
Thoughtfulness is something that we have in the beginning of our relationship, but I feel digresses as we go on in live. Be it laziness, or some other reason. I think overall we just get comfortable in that relationship, and this comfort is a large part of problems that can hinder many a relationships.
Take the thoughtfulness you had when you first met your now spouse, and use it to grow your love for your wife in a new way.
I leave you today with words from one of my favorite movies, "the key to a women's heart, is an unexpected gift at an unexpected time."
Thoughtfulness dies away every second we are alive. Don't lose it.
What will you do that is unexpected?
I find it very interesting that my posting of this falls on my wife's birthday and I find the very words that I am writing very convicting. In all honesty is quite hard to write this one today, but I know that if I don't write this today, I might just stop writing these. I don't know if anyone reads these, or even cares, but to me I find that writing these and getting into the word a little bit, might get me a jump start back to where I want to be.
I apologize for digressing from the topic, but today is just a very different day for me. In someways I feel that Satan is trying to pull me closer and closer away from God as I am trying to get closer and closer to God. So, I must pull through this. I mention this because the topic at hand is Thoughtful.
Each foot hold the devil gets, is one less foot hold we all have on getting to where we are going. This can be your relationship with your spouse or with God.
Psalm 139:17-18
NLT - "How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me!
NASB - "How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You."
It took me quite a while to really understand what these words were saying. But read the words carefully. God is thinking about you ALWAYS. His thoughts of you cannot be numbered. The thoughts outnumber the grains of sand. No matter when we wake up, God is always there with us.
WOW! If God is thinking about us ALWAYS, it is really hard to imagine the level of Love that God has for us isn't it?
Think way back to when you were wooing your spouse. You thought about your soon to be spouse all the time didn't you? You thought about them when you were awake, and you probably even had dreams about them. No fast forward to right this second. Are you thinking about your spouse? Are you only thinking about them, because you are reading these words and getting you to think about your spouse and how much you actually think about them?
This is really hard for me because I feel that I have lost this thoughtfulness that I once had for my wife. I love my wife beyond what words can say. But, I wonder, why cannot I not match up to the thoughtfulness I once had? Is it because of money? No, because thoughtfulness doesn't always require money. Is it time? No, because if I can find time to write this blog, I surely can find time to do something thoughtful for my wife. Is it energy? No, because if I can find the energy in my day to even straighten up one thing at home, surely I can find a shred of energy to devote to my wife.
Then what is it? I think it is in our nature to devote time, money and energy into our newly found relationship, but once we do and we become married, we find that money, time, and energy for some reason escapes us. But, does it? I don't believe it does. I think we as a society have become inundated with so many things in our life that we lose sight of one of the most critical people in our lives, our spouse.
Think about how much time you spend, "wasting time." Let me put it into perspective. Do you do any of these things on a regular basis? I know I do! Playing on your smartphone, surfing the internet, playing on your tablet/ipad, finding yourself distancing yourself from your spouse to avoid confrontation, finding ways to stay "busy" to avoid something, procrastinating on any task, etc... Me personally, I find myself saying yes to more than one item on this list.
So, what does this say about Love. Does it meant that you don't love your spouse? No. I think that it means that you need to become aware of these time wasters and attention sucking items and remove them. God is thinking about you ALWAYS. Are you thinking about your spouse ALWAYS? Is there something thoughtful that you can do for your spouse that they might not be expecting? When was the last thing you did something thoughtful for your spouse?
Love as I am learning is something that is never meant to be completely mastered. If God wanted us to completely master the art of Love, then he would never have allowed Eve to deceive Adam, or never allow the snake to deceive Eve. For if we were perfect in Love, then our lives would be perfect.
So, as I conclude a blog full of questions, I want to leave you with these thoughts. God loves you more than you could ever count. If God loves us this much, do we love God back the same amount? If God is an integral part of your marriage, do you love your spouse as much as God loves you?
Thoughtfulness is something that we have in the beginning of our relationship, but I feel digresses as we go on in live. Be it laziness, or some other reason. I think overall we just get comfortable in that relationship, and this comfort is a large part of problems that can hinder many a relationships.
Take the thoughtfulness you had when you first met your now spouse, and use it to grow your love for your wife in a new way.
I leave you today with words from one of my favorite movies, "the key to a women's heart, is an unexpected gift at an unexpected time."
Thoughtfulness dies away every second we are alive. Don't lose it.
What will you do that is unexpected?
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Love is Not Selfish - Day 3 - Romans 12:10
Love is Not Selfish. We come to the one that strikes fear into everyone's heart. After all aren't we all selfish by our very nature? There isn't one person I have ever met that is completely selfless. It might be the simplest thing, but deep down there is a selfish nature within all of us. So, what does this mean for love? Only bad things can come from a selfish nature existing in a love relationship.
Romans 12:10
NLT - "Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other."
NASB - "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor;"
The Message (a snippet) - "...practice playing second fiddle."
NIV - "Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves."
We have all heard of selfishness, we all practice selfishness, we all are selfish. And if you are thinking for one second that you aren't, thing about this question, "Could you give away ANYTHING you have to someone else and not feel a single sense of loss?" I am sure everyone could give away some things, but there are things that we have that we just couldn't do without. Take that coveted cell phone. Are you so tied to your cell phone that you just could never part with it, even if someone else needed it more? How about money? Are you so selfish with your money that you could never give any of it away? I bet you didn't think that you could be selfish about money did you?
Everything we have in this world, we have the innate ability to be selfish about. So, when it comes to Love, selfishness has no place in a love relationship. Sure we can have our times to be selfish to some degree (taking time for ourselves, etc...) but selfishness should not permeate our lives so much that our relationship with our spouse becomes alienated.
When was the last time that you thought first about your spouse and second about yourself? When was the last time you put your needs and wants second to the needs and wants of your spouse? When was the last time you played the second fiddle?
Take some time to reflect upon some times in your relationship, and think about some of the times when you were selfish. If you now think about that incident in the context of what God is saying above, do you think, if you had a second chance, you might do something different? It is so easy in this world to be engrossed in our own selfishness that we find it hard to look at ourselves in this light. We find it hard to come to grips with the fact that we are selfish. And even harder, we find it next to impossible to get away from our selfishness.
Put yourself I your spouses shoes next time when they are wanting to do something and you are getting a feeling of being selfish. Think about what your selfish attitude will bring to your love for each other. This selfishness can break apart relationships.
We are selfish beings. There is nothing more to it than that. but, be careful with your selfishness. There is a time and a place when it is ok to be selfish. But our selfishness should not drive how we act towards our spouse.
How have you acted today? Have you been integrated with your own selfishness, or have you taken time to be selfless in your relationsip?
>
Romans 12:10
NLT - "Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other."
NASB - "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor;"
The Message (a snippet) - "...practice playing second fiddle."
NIV - "Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves."
We have all heard of selfishness, we all practice selfishness, we all are selfish. And if you are thinking for one second that you aren't, thing about this question, "Could you give away ANYTHING you have to someone else and not feel a single sense of loss?" I am sure everyone could give away some things, but there are things that we have that we just couldn't do without. Take that coveted cell phone. Are you so tied to your cell phone that you just could never part with it, even if someone else needed it more? How about money? Are you so selfish with your money that you could never give any of it away? I bet you didn't think that you could be selfish about money did you?
Everything we have in this world, we have the innate ability to be selfish about. So, when it comes to Love, selfishness has no place in a love relationship. Sure we can have our times to be selfish to some degree (taking time for ourselves, etc...) but selfishness should not permeate our lives so much that our relationship with our spouse becomes alienated.
When was the last time that you thought first about your spouse and second about yourself? When was the last time you put your needs and wants second to the needs and wants of your spouse? When was the last time you played the second fiddle?
Take some time to reflect upon some times in your relationship, and think about some of the times when you were selfish. If you now think about that incident in the context of what God is saying above, do you think, if you had a second chance, you might do something different? It is so easy in this world to be engrossed in our own selfishness that we find it hard to look at ourselves in this light. We find it hard to come to grips with the fact that we are selfish. And even harder, we find it next to impossible to get away from our selfishness.
Put yourself I your spouses shoes next time when they are wanting to do something and you are getting a feeling of being selfish. Think about what your selfish attitude will bring to your love for each other. This selfishness can break apart relationships.
We are selfish beings. There is nothing more to it than that. but, be careful with your selfishness. There is a time and a place when it is ok to be selfish. But our selfishness should not drive how we act towards our spouse.
How have you acted today? Have you been integrated with your own selfishness, or have you taken time to be selfless in your relationsip?
>
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Love is Kind - Day 2 - Ephesians 4:32
Love is Kind. Here is one that you might not really think about. What does it mean to be kind? If we look up the definition of Kind it states "of a good or benevolent nature or disposition." And, if you are like me, and not a dictionary, I had to look up benevolent, since it is not in my everyday vernacular. Benevolent is defined as "characterized by or expressing goodwill or kindly feelings." So, if we look solely at the definition of the word "kind," it is pretty clear what it means. Basically to be kind is to show good nature towards others and to present yourselves as a good person to others, and one who would now show evil intentions towards them.
Ephesians 4:32, according to the NLT, says "Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you." But instead of what? I think for context we need to back up and look at the verse prior and actually look at verses 31 and 32 so we can get a clearer picture.
Ephesians 4:31-32
NLT - Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.
NASB - Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
The Message (just for fun) - Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you.
So what is this really saying? To me, kindness is a quality that we all search for in a mate. When we were first dating we wanted that guy or girl to be kind, and loving and caring. If they weren't we either got rid of them or tried to change them. Although I only really dated one person before getting married to my now wife, I don't have much experience with the changing half of this, however, my gut tells me that any attempt made to try to change someone didn't go over well. In fact there is an old adage that in order to change someone you must first change yourself. I would agree with this statement. But, I have digressed from the topic at hand. That is for another day and another series.
Kindness was something that we all wanted in a mate, in addition, we wanted kindness to be spread to your future kids and you want kindness from your friends and family. So what exactly is God trying to say here? To me I think he trying to make the point, that we all have bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, malice, and profane talk. We all do these things, or keep them in our hearts, and no one can refute that. If we were all perfect, then these things wouldn't exist in the world. However, the reality is that these things do exist in the world. And since we are not Jesus, we are all sinners to some degree.
A love relationship has no room for any of these unhealthy thoughts or actions. So, God is plainly saying that we need to "Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven."
Now, I am not going to get into the forgiveness side of this as this will be discussed in Day 25. Love is one of those relationships that can be so easily broken, but can so easily be found. So, why is it so hard sometimes for us to not love someone? Why is it, that at times, we are so enamered with ire and rage, we simply find it impossible to love another human being? I think the answer is simply that we are forgetting what we have. What we have, is we have a God that loves us. We have a God, who gave his one and only son to die for us. We have a God who loves us so much that no matter what we screw up in our lives, he will always provide an ear to listen, a shoulder to cry on, and a heart that will forgive everything we do.
So, here we have a God who can forgive us for whatever we screw up in our lives, a God who gave his only son to die for us, and a God who is so kind that he is always there with us whenever we need him. Again, I implore, why is it so incredibly difficult for us to always love one another with the same kindness. I believe that this is a result of society telling us that it is OK. Society pushes us to say, "oh you aren't happy? just get a divorce."
Think about a statement I made earlier. "Love is one of those relationships that can be so easily broken, but can so easily be found." Love is a fragile relationship. It can shatter just by uttering a few words, or just a single action. Love is, in its very nature, a beast that we are all trying to tame. But, the answer to tame this relationship is simply in what God has told us to do. Shed the unhealty ideals from ourselves and instead show the kindness and tenderness God has shown us. It is with this kindness and tenderness that our love relationship will flourish.
Love is kind, and kindness can be all around us, if we put our hearts and our minds to it. Think about God's kindness He has shown you the next time you are tempted to be bitter, rage filled, angry, or talking in profanities. Think about what God is thinking when you are doing these things. In some regards I can see God looking down on me just shaking his head saying, "tsk tsk tsk, I have shown you the light, but you still struggle with this. There isn't anything else I can do for you, you have to correct this on your own."
Love is kind, what are you going to say to your spouse the next time you are angry with them?
Ephesians 4:32, according to the NLT, says "Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you." But instead of what? I think for context we need to back up and look at the verse prior and actually look at verses 31 and 32 so we can get a clearer picture.
Ephesians 4:31-32
NLT - Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.
NASB - Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
The Message (just for fun) - Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you.
So what is this really saying? To me, kindness is a quality that we all search for in a mate. When we were first dating we wanted that guy or girl to be kind, and loving and caring. If they weren't we either got rid of them or tried to change them. Although I only really dated one person before getting married to my now wife, I don't have much experience with the changing half of this, however, my gut tells me that any attempt made to try to change someone didn't go over well. In fact there is an old adage that in order to change someone you must first change yourself. I would agree with this statement. But, I have digressed from the topic at hand. That is for another day and another series.
Kindness was something that we all wanted in a mate, in addition, we wanted kindness to be spread to your future kids and you want kindness from your friends and family. So what exactly is God trying to say here? To me I think he trying to make the point, that we all have bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, malice, and profane talk. We all do these things, or keep them in our hearts, and no one can refute that. If we were all perfect, then these things wouldn't exist in the world. However, the reality is that these things do exist in the world. And since we are not Jesus, we are all sinners to some degree.
A love relationship has no room for any of these unhealthy thoughts or actions. So, God is plainly saying that we need to "Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven."
Now, I am not going to get into the forgiveness side of this as this will be discussed in Day 25. Love is one of those relationships that can be so easily broken, but can so easily be found. So, why is it so hard sometimes for us to not love someone? Why is it, that at times, we are so enamered with ire and rage, we simply find it impossible to love another human being? I think the answer is simply that we are forgetting what we have. What we have, is we have a God that loves us. We have a God, who gave his one and only son to die for us. We have a God who loves us so much that no matter what we screw up in our lives, he will always provide an ear to listen, a shoulder to cry on, and a heart that will forgive everything we do.
So, here we have a God who can forgive us for whatever we screw up in our lives, a God who gave his only son to die for us, and a God who is so kind that he is always there with us whenever we need him. Again, I implore, why is it so incredibly difficult for us to always love one another with the same kindness. I believe that this is a result of society telling us that it is OK. Society pushes us to say, "oh you aren't happy? just get a divorce."
Think about a statement I made earlier. "Love is one of those relationships that can be so easily broken, but can so easily be found." Love is a fragile relationship. It can shatter just by uttering a few words, or just a single action. Love is, in its very nature, a beast that we are all trying to tame. But, the answer to tame this relationship is simply in what God has told us to do. Shed the unhealty ideals from ourselves and instead show the kindness and tenderness God has shown us. It is with this kindness and tenderness that our love relationship will flourish.
Love is kind, and kindness can be all around us, if we put our hearts and our minds to it. Think about God's kindness He has shown you the next time you are tempted to be bitter, rage filled, angry, or talking in profanities. Think about what God is thinking when you are doing these things. In some regards I can see God looking down on me just shaking his head saying, "tsk tsk tsk, I have shown you the light, but you still struggle with this. There isn't anything else I can do for you, you have to correct this on your own."
Love is kind, what are you going to say to your spouse the next time you are angry with them?
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