The Ways You Love
How do you love others? How do you receive love?
In my last post, I referenced a few verses that talked about loving God with all our heart, mind, and strength. And it got me thinking...
How do I love God?
Does the diversity of the way I express God matter?
So naturally, I thought about what God could be teaching me about loving other people. I feel like He often points me to examples of my interactions with others to teach me something. Sure enough, there have been people who I have loved in different ways.
For example, I will take my mom. I love her by washing the dishes, cooking dinner, writing her notes, calling her when I am away at college, giving her hugs, and watching Hallmark Christmas movies with her. She also really loves it when I split or share food with her when we eat out. Like, she LOVES that! As I thought about it, I realized that, well, I don't do all of those things every day.
I think that concept can be translated with our relationship with God. It is a relationship, and really the point of life here is to love and know God. (Out of that flows just about everything else, really!) But some days, I really don't feel anything towards God. Yep, believe it or not, some days I don't wake up super pumped to love God in every moment of my day. And although I would love to spring out of bed with that kind of vigor to love God, I am finding that sometimes, I need to almost "set the mood." Not quite candles and romantic dinner kind of set the mood (although I do love candles!), but what I mean is that sometimes I have to take some steps to be a good lover of God.
Here are some ways I do this:
- Going for a walk
- Reading the Word
- Playing or listening to some music
- Looking at art or nature
- Reading testimonies, or missionary newsletters- sometimes even just reading old journal entries to see how I have grown spiritually
- Prayer
- Writing in my journal
Admittedly, these all seem pretty simple. But all of those things are things that I enjoy. They help me to remember and reflect on God's goodness. They help me to enjoy the lovely things (nature, art, beauty), and cause my heart to turn toward a heart of gratitude and worship to the One who is Worthy of it All.
Loving God can look different day to day. We can love God by sitting in the sunshine, remembering that every good and perfect gift comes from above. (James 1:17) We can love God by serving others and volunteering to help those less fortunate. (Matthew 25:40) We can love God by admiring the wintry snowfall (Philippians 4:8 reminds us to think about what is admirable). We love God by choosing Him and serving Him (Joshua 24:15).
I really could go on and on. Loving our neighbor as ourself, loving the orphan and the widow, etc. But the point is that there are LOTS of ways to love God. Sometimes we need a reminder that we can love God in all that we do. I need that reminder. Loving God is opening our Bible and spending time in prayer. Loving God doesn't end there. It can be so much more, if we allow Him to teach us how to love Him.
Expanding the ways we express love to God can also help us when we are feeling far from God. Letting Him pull us close to his heart through testimonies and the beauty he has created around us alongside the reading of His Word can help keep us grow close to God. The closer we become to God, the more we can discover about Him and His character. The more we uncover about God gives us all that much more to love. (That sounds like a pretty great cycle to me! Much better than a cycle of "falling out" of closeness of God that I know many of us have felt at one time or another!)
So how do you love the Lord your God with all your Heart and Mind and Strength? What draws you closer to Him, and deeper into His Presence? Do you love learning new ways to love Him?
This is a journey! I hope you join me in it!
Here's to learning new ways to Love God, and for giving it all we've got!
Big Hugs,
Melly
XOXOX
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