THREE KINDS OF LOVE

 

Three types of love exists on earth.  The first is love for those we love; family and good friends.  This type of love is easiest to dole out.  It needs no further explanation.  

The second type of love is trying to love people we dislike.  As a Christian, we were taught by Jesus before His departure from earth that we are to love one another.  This type of love is not yet defined as love until we are obedient to our Lord.  He didn't mean that we force ourselves to show love to these people, only to not bear any hatred for them in our hearts.  We are to pray for them in whatever capacity that lines up with God's will... think about the 10 Commandments when we think about loving our enemies.  We are not to take up the methods of the devil, instead we take up the methods of Jesus Christ.

Which brings me to the last type of Love.  The love of the three Godheads, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is the LOVE OF ALL LOVES.  It even has its own name, AGAPE (a-gah-peh).  This type of love can never exist in our hearts because we are born of flesh.  Only when we get to heaven will we be able to achieve this.  It is not to say that we shouldn't practice it while we are on earth.  God actually encourages us to do so.  It should be our goal.  The more we practice, the closer we are to God's heart.  And we all know what happens to us when we have that close relationship with God, right?  We become favored.  Favored children of God get the goods!  They get the blessing and the grace and the unlimited mercy from God.  Because God understands we can never be perfect like Him, he lengthens his forgiveness and mercy for us.  Jesus was the sacrificial lamb for past, present and future sins.  What an honor for perfection to give His life so we can live in everlasting life and Love of God.  Something to ponder on, amirite?

Until my next rant... LOVE ONE ANOTHER!

 

FORGIVENESS

Forgiveness is one topic I love to blog about.  Forgiveness is the divine gift that is offered to us by Jesus Christ in exchange for our faith in His blood sacrifice and then the circle goes on and on.  

Jesus' most important lesson to all of us is forgiveness for one another.  Our high regard for our Lord must also manifest in our relationship with each other.  If Jesus can forgive us so easily and all He ever asks for is our faith, then we must forgive each other just as easily as He forgives us.  Living a life of forgiveness, not holding grudges can only benefit us.  If we refuse to give mercy, it will not only be difficult for us to receive it, but we also hinder others from forgiving us.

Bitterness can ruin our soul.  The power of bitterness is destructive because pride usually gets in the way.  Pride is the product of our belief that we are better than anyone else and when someone wrongs us, holding on to the ace card only hurts us in the end.  Bitterness not only troubles us, but it also defiles others.

Unforgiveness destroys relationships.  It causes a myriad of physical ailments such as high blood pressure, ulcer, headaches, even cancer.  We also face the danger of our children following in our footsteps.  Holding grudges is not an option.  We must love and forgive or we decay.

Remember what Jesus said to one of His disciples.  Not only should we forgive 7 times, but 7 times 70.  (Matthew 18:21-22)  Jesus is perfect and we are not.  So if He can forgive a plethora of our sins, who are we not to?

Until my next rant... LOVE ONE ANOTHER!

IDOLATRY

Whenever we read Exodus 20:4, one of the most important of all ten commandments, you know, the one that talks about idolatry?  We often think about an actual statue, an amulet, an image of buddha, etc.  

This particular commandment says, "thou shalt not have strange gods before me."  Then it goes on to say, we should not make an image of anything anywhere, heavens, earth or sea.  That we shouldn't bow down (worship) anything or anyone except God.  Let's look at this for a moment.

When the Bible was written then, the Hebrews created idols that they worshiped instead of God.  In our world today, we have a myriad of things and people we worship instead of worshiping God alone.  God was clear as He went on that He is a jealous God.  We were created by God and worshiping other things or people is an insult and a blatant disrespect for our Lord.  So what is idolatry?

Idolatry is the serving of, loving of, honoring of, focusing your time to, and fearing of anything other than God.  

There are people who spend their time and all their energy on their jobs.  Others are engulfed in co-dependency to their spouse or lover, some for their children.  Some are under the control of drugs or a habit that grip their lives.  Some even immersed in sports and celebrities.  Whatever it is that consumes us is idolatry.  God should be numero uno in our lives, in our hearts, our minds and bodies.  You say, well how can I possibly think about God 24/7?  To that I say, why not?  Being in tune with God on a daily and hourly basis is not that complicated.  God speaks to us through our hearts.  If we are 100% under the will of God, He makes that clear.

The bonus prize when we are in tune and committed to loving God, He makes things work out in our lives so that we feel fulfilled and uplifted.  There is no lose situation when we are situated in the Lord.  We must accept the world's 2 cents when a curve ball is thrown at us, but as long as our will aligns with God's will, we can be thrown curve balls all day long and nothing will faze us.  What other way results in success?  Nothing!

Unless we can understand this concept and surrender to God, our lives will always be in turmoil, strained and unfulfilled.  God is the answer for everything.  If you ask an unbeliever if he or she believes in God, and they answer NO, they are lying.  Because deep in the pits of our guts, we know that God is as real as the moon in the sky.

Until my next rant, love God only, and LOVE ONE ANOTHER!

THE STROKE

Just as I thought my life was going towards the disciplined direction I wanted, God threw a curve ball at me.  In the past, when I feel disconnected from God, I just spend time in prayer and meditation with Him and I instantly connect again.  This time was different, however.  No matter how clear my intentions were to reconnect with God, He seems so far away and so unattainable.  The less I tried, the farther away I felt from Him.  

On June 21st it was Hot Zumba Night.  Against my better judgment of stopping at one hour, I continued to 1-1/2 hours.  By the time I got home, I felt my left leg tingling and going numb.  Despite my stretching efforts, the tingling didn't go away and was heightened the next morning.  It was time to call the doctor but not till after I prayed for healing.  My doctor wasn't available so I saw the doctor on-call.  I was sent home with muscle relaxers but three days later, there was no change.  This time it graduated towards the whole left side of my body including my face and head.

Not understanding my usually understandable body, I called to see my regular physician.  After describing my current symptoms, she gave the old neurologist a call who ordered for an MRI of my brain.  When she told me the info, it felt like someone threw cold water on my face. 

The MRI showed that I had a stroke and the left side of my body was the part of the brain that was affected.  I'm not usually afraid of death, or so I claimed.  But once you are faced with the possibility of dying, it becomes real, a different story.  The reality of how major death is, regardless of its inevitability, is still humbling.  The fact that you are no longer in control of your life, no matter how brave you think you should be, it is not an easy pill to swallow (pardon the pun).

My doctor of course prescribed a blood pressure pill and lipitor.  How shocking for me since only last Tuesday when I went in for a blood pressure check it was lower than normal.  And now this.

The next day while eating my salad for lunch, my left arm started going numb.  Knowing the earlier diagnosis, I didn't want to take the chance.  Back to the doctor's office I go.  Blood pressure was skyrocketing at 200/102.  Dangerously high.  The nurse ordered me to go to the hospital emergency room.

This is when it became real.  I bawled my eyes out.  Thoughts start flooding through my brain.  All of the major event of my children's lives are happening this year.  Really? Of all years to have a scare, it had to be this one?  The most important of all is I will be a first time grandmother this December.  How is life fair?

Back to the ER.  Blood pressure stayed high.  Another MRI was done.  The doctor said no additional stroke happened and the symptoms I experienced earlier was only because my brain was still adjusting from the earlier stroke.

My thoughts that battle are between not being afraid to die because I finally get to meet God face to face.  On the other hand, I will be sad to leave my kids on earth.  Even though I know we will all meet in heaven, it was still very sad and upsetting.  But that is what flesh does.  It rejects and becomes afraid of what is unknown.  Death is not something we experience and come back to tell about it.  It is final.  It is inevitable.  God is on the other side.  Most people shove the thought of death out of their minds but no matter how much they do, death is one thing that is certain.

The most upsetting part was my worried mother.  Although I felt bad telling her I was in the ER, not telling her and passing away is much worse.

Life is tricky. I have become a vegan 3 months ago and working out diligently only to be told by the doctor that age and heredity plays a huge role in my condition.  Great!  Not that I would quit working out and eating clean, but the fact that your life hangs upon another's genes is beyond me.  

I got a new lease in life.  I will continue to offer this blog to anyone who will heed.  God is in control, and that is a humbling fact.  I consider myself having a tight relationship with God.  I can't imagine those who do not and would not.  I pray to God that their eyes would open to the truth of this life.

Until my next rant... LOVE ONE ANOTHER!

A TIME OF PEACE, A TIME OF LOVE

 

If you are over 50, you would have grown up in the 60s and 70s.  To me that was the best era to have grown up in.  The era where Love and Peace were the mantra, no matter who you were.   Of course I am not that naive to say that everyone was perfect.  Far from it.  However, in those decades, people were still humane.

Let me explain.  Even today, when we watch reruns of tv shows from those days, the theme was always about doing good, learning lessons from life, parents were highly regarded as sages, the ones whose advise we still heeded.  Those days when you woke up thinking, "what good can I influence others today?"  It was more about looking after others rather than "ME."  If you didn't grow up in the 60s and the 70s, you have missed so much.

Today's music and lyrics to love songs pale in comparison to those from the 60s and 70s.  The love songs were written with such heart that some songs tug on your heart strings so much and will literally make you cry.  Relationships were reinforced with personal theme songs.  A song that only you and your sweetheart share together with so much meaning between you.  Songs that are sung with so much passion and emotion to make one feel so good.  

Those times were easy, breezy and always joyous.  I remember just hanging out with my friends and everyone was my friend in the little community we lived in.  We weren't taught how to share because sharing was instinctive to caring.  We had compassion for one another.  We opened up with each other, without prejudice or judgment.  We didn't have to try to be careful with our words because we knew that our intentions were pure, and went without saying.  We paid attention to each other and listened with open hearts and open minds.  If we hurt someone's feelings, there was no hesitation in our apologies.

We wore hand-me-down bell bottom pants, which we called elephant pants and 3 inch clogs with no shame.  We said "PEACE" and "LOVE" "RIGHT ON" to each other and knew exactly what they meant.

Ahh yes, those days are truly over.  But we have the memories of days gone by.  Today's time is Opposite Day for us in the 60s and 70s.  There is so much hate, so much suspicion, honesty is null because there is so little trust among people.  They identify no longer as humans but make believe creatures created in their screwed up brains.  These are the times when free will has gone berserk.  The reason is that Jesus is no longer in their hearts.  In the 60s and 70s, love is the default.  God is Love.  Today, love is a forgotten concept which is why hearts are lost.  When hearts are lost, satan is present.  It's a sad sad time.

When Trump said Make America Great Again, I bet he was referring to such a time as I have described, because I agree with him.  I stand on Love.  Love One Another...  Until my next rant.