October 2015 (25x25)

This month involved quite a bit of dressing up, going to Disney, and Bible reading - although not necessarily all of those things together.

Regina, Emma Swan, and Captain Hook

The dressing up and Disney pieces definitely fit together for a visit to Magic Kingdom to attend Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. 

Don't mess with Emma Swan (from Once Upon a Time).

Also, pumpkins made an appearance in October...featuring an adipose from Doctor Who. I had surprising success in hand-drawing this little guy on here from the template I was viewing on my phone.

Where does the Bible reading come into all of this, you might ask. I have now made it to the depths of 1 Kings, which means I am past day 100 on the plan I am using to read through the Bible in a year, with a daily psalm. Mostly I've learned that God stays quite consistent in his rules and guidelines and humans quite consistently fail to pay very much attention to him at all.

September 2015 (25x25) - Loving Well

Yes, I do realize that it is the middle of October BUT I wrote this in the middle of September...I just didn't post it. I was thinking about what love is and how hard it is to truly love other people well - people who are broken, just like me. So this is a very different post than my usual.

Loving Well

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."

- 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (NIV)

Love is not an easy thing. It is a really hard thing. Loving well and whole-heartedly means being vulnerable and real. It means talking about the hard things and being able to be yourself no matter what. Love looks for what you can give to the other person, rather than seeing what you can get for yourself.

The world's definition of love is entirely different than God's definition.

The world says love is all about me.
It is a transient feeling.
It asks “What I can get from this relationship?”
It says, if I don't feel it anymore or I'm not getting what I need, then it's time to move on.

God says love is action.
It's a choice.
It's sacrificial.
It's focused on giving.
It doesn't give up.
It forgives.

Only God can love perfectly. If you're looking for true love, it looks a lot like Jesus dying on the cross to make it so that we could be in a relationship with God forever. The rest of us just have to keep trying to imitate Jesus and looking for his love to fill us and overflow to others.

At the same time, though, we have to choose wisely who we love. Because loving someone who is just using us or who is totally lost in their own brokenness isn't healthy. At that point, that person needs to experience God's love to be able to love himself or herself and learn how to love others. We can't fix a person by loving them. God has to do that work of healing and restoration in them.

Fall in Maine. I wish I was there. Don't you? Photo credit: my mom