Love...

isn't love til you give it away. That's what our Sunday message was on today.

Our current message series at church is called "Reply". It follows a series called "Text" that was a 3 part series in learning about how wonderful the bible is...that's it's God's way of directly speaking to us. I learned things I didn't know. Lots of things. Unfortunately, reading God's Word is currently not a top-of-the-list priority in my life right now. (Working to change that).

ANYWAY!

So, for this series "Reply", we are hitting on the things we are called to do, as a way of replying to God's text. First week was "Prayer" (obvious), last week was "Morph" (changing to become the person God's called us to be) and this week was "Love". It really was a perfect message for the weekend of Valentine's.

Here are the things we touched on about how to show love:

Words - say it. Tell someone you love them - how important they are - what they mean to you.
Actions - do something to show a person you love them. Serve them, care for them, forgive them.
Gifts - duh.
Touch - a hug, a pat on the back, a shoulder rub.
Time - giving someone the gift of your time. Time with God, time with family, time with friends.
Sacrifice - all of these things require sacrifice. Love always requires sacrifice.

Love is choosing the highest good for another, even if it involves sacrifice. Love isn't a feeling, it's doing.

Looking over this list, I realize I have done a pretty rotten job of making sure those people in my life know that I love them. My husband...he knows. My children...they know. My immediate/extended family? Pretty sure they know too. But the rest of the of them, who I count among those that I love and care about? Have I told them? Have I showed them? Have I gifted them? Have I spent time with them? Have I hugged them? Have I made any sacrifices? Not so much.

Uffdah. This is gonna take some doing.