by Health Minister Jennifer Grassle
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16
Love is a powerful emotion. It could make you feel elated one moment and completely crushed the next. But what I feel some people tend to lose sight of is that love is more than a feeling. Love is an action, a means of communication, an outward expression of how we connect with the people and other life around us. Even God showed how much He loved us through actions.
Children may not understand all the things parents do, but they instinctively know when they are loved. There is an innate sense of what love is; a built-in love-o-meter which is part of our human nature. Plants are said to thrive when they are spoken to kindly. Animals respond to love and react to violence. It is a part of every being in our world. I believe God placed the substance of love into the very blueprint of our cells.
Saying I love you is not enough. People know when we are being sincere by our actions. If we tell someone we love them and then do something that is harmful to that person, we are contradicting ourselves. People will begin to lose their trust in us.
So how do we love those around us?
“A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.” John 13:34
He is telling us that we must show the action of love in order to feel the emotion of love! And the various ways we can show love do not have to be complicated; they simply have to come from the heart.
Over half of all marriages end in divorce and this could be for many different reasons. Often one of those reasons could be that a spouse falls out of love and no longer feels love for the other. This may sound unbelievable, but when we show love, we will begin to feel love again. For those of us who are married, let’s think back to when we were courting and first married. So much of our thoughts and energies were devoted to each other and not the other business of life. As time goes on, we can easily get caught up in the daily trials of life and carelessly neglect one of the most important people in our lives—our other half.
Some special ways to bless a spouse would be to write a little note on the bathroom mirror, to give flowers for no particular reason, or to perform a task that the other usually does. These unexpected thoughtful gestures will help to re-ignite that love relationship and bring us closer to the ones we love.
As the holidays approach, I’m sure elaborate meals with family and friends will be on most of our ‘to-do’ lists. There will be the holiday traditions to consider as well as the meal planning, the preparation, the small expected treats, gifts, desserts, and on and on. One could easily misplace their mind trying to balance all of the details and lose sight of the reason for doing these things every year.
We have the traditions of being with family and friends mainly because we love them, and we want to share in celebrating our lives in Christ. When we prepare our holiday recipes, let’s think about how much we love the people we are preparing them for. Allow the love to flow out of our heart, through our hands and into that sauce we are blending. We shouldn’t worry about whether or not we are on time or if the dishes are chipped. When we allow ourselves to get caught up in these minor things, it creates tension in us, which could reflect in our culinary creations that we hope to be ‘just right’. We’ll receive more compliments when love is the first ingredient, rather than fretting to make everything perfect, while harboring the wrong spirit.
What other ways can we love the others around us? How about asking what we can do for them? This can be a very difficult question to ask, especially when most of us have a full schedule already. By taking a moment and asking how we can help someone improve their day (and really meaning it), can work wonders for a relationship. When we can focus on others and meet their needs, somehow God works it out that we find enough time to accomplish our goals as well. This has worked for me, on several occasions. In fact, I find that when I start my day with a servant’s heart, I not only have time to do the ‘extra’ task, but I accomplish my other tasks as well and still have time left over for just enjoying myself.
When we take the time to reach out to someone, even a stranger, both of us will be blessed. Sometimes the purest love comes in helping a stranger. It’s the unconditional type of love. The kind where you say, I don’t know who you are or what you do, but I want to help your situation. It can be something as simple as returning someone’s grocery cart to the store after they have loaded up their vehicle. Reaching out in love doesn’t have to mean grand gestures of large monetary donations or great acts of charity to be seen by everyone. It simply needs to come from the heart and be directed to life around us.
When we love someone, they should know it without us having to say a word. It should flow out through our actions. It should also pour into us. When things are done for us, we need to accept this love. And we should do things to pour love into ourselves. Constant negative feelings and actions towards ourselves will cause our body to break down faster. We have to take time to nurture our mind and our body so that we can give back the love we receive.
“Though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And now abideth faith, hope and charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.” I Corinthians 13:2,13
Whom will we love today?
Jennifer Grassle is a Health Minister and co-host of three of The Hallelujah Food Show Recipes for Life videos: Feeding Our Children, Basics for Great Recipes and Choices, and Variety and Convenience.
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