The Power of Love

We’ve all heard of “earworms”, annoying little ditties that get stuck on replay in our minds till we think we’ll go crazy. I am beginning to think not all earworms are bad. There is a chorus of an old hymn that recently popped into my head and stuck there. I’m sure I haven’t heard it in years, and yet there it was, ringing through my thoughts as clearly as if sung by a choir. It said, “Love lifted me. Love lifted me. When nothing else could help, love lifted me.” Maybe it’s not just there to annoy me or drive me crazy. Maybe it is actually a message that I need to be reminded of.

I looked up the lyrics to the hymn since I couldn’t remember them after so many years. It was meant as a call to salvation. but I don’t think that’s the context my earworm is referring to. Becoming a Christian doesn’t mean you no longer have storms to contend with. In fact, life is full of billowing waves and angry seas punctuated by times of peace and refreshing. Do we walk or sink during those storms, that is the question.

Love that is absolute and unconditional is the key. We don’t find that anywhere else but in God. No matter how deep and enduring the love of a spouse, or a parent, or a friend may be, it might fade in the face of rejection or betrayal. It’s not easy to love with no strings or expectations attached. Add to that, I’m sure I have moments when I am just plain hard to love. We have a natural propensity for growing weary, giving up, or trying to protect ourselves. Only God does it perfectly. He never gives up on us. While we were still his enemies, he was willing to die for us. His love doesn’t depend on whether we love him back, or how well we perform.

Struggling with the chains of poor self-worth, insecurity, depression, shame, an inability to forgive, trust issues, a need to control, fears of all sorts? All these things are common, even among Christians. I particularly struggle with a need to perform well and a fear of failure. We get stuck in old patterns of thinking and feeling and can’t seem to make any headway in our transformational journey to become more like Jesus. If only we knew, really knew, what it means to be loved absolutely and unconditionally. I don’t mean just in our heads, but in our experience. That kind of love is what transforms us and sets us free from our chains. We need to know and experience and dwell in that perfect love.

There are so many people that I wish I could help to overcome the things they struggle with. I wrack my brain trying to think of some advice to give, some wise counsel or eloquent prayer that will heal them or at least make a difference. It often leaves me feeling helpless, frustrated and depressed. Maybe the best help I can give is to love them the way God does. I fail in that on a daily basis, especially when I try to do it on my own. It isn’t about trying harder or working at it. The only way I can love the way God does is to soak up that love for myself until it overflows. Maybe that’s what I need to do today, just sit in his presence and receive his love. It’s the most powerful force in the universe. When nothing else could help, love lifted me, and it will lift you too if you let it.

Was it an earworm, or was it the Holy Spirit? If it drives me to God rather than driving me crazy, I think I know the answer to that. May I be a sponge today and may the love I receive from God saturate me to such an extent that it can’t help but overflow to everyone I come in contact with.

Image by S. Hermann / F. Richter from Pixabay 

 

The Best Day of My Life - Attitude Determines Altitude

This week I am attending a writing retreat called ReFocus 2022. It was something I really needed. Badly. Many of you may be thinking that I have been flying off the radar for some time now as evidenced by the lack of any new content on my blog or website in what feels like ages. In truth, I haven’t been flying at all. In truth, I have been within a whisker of giving up writing altogether – a legacy of the brain fog and depression associated with my cancer journey. However, it seems God is not done with me yet, as a writer that is. I have experienced some significant improvement in my ability to concentrate over the past month and here I am, at the keyboard once again.

I recently watched the movie, City Slickers, or should I say re-watched it. It’s an old movie, a comedy where three friends from the city take a working holiday on a cattle ranch. It’s hilariously funny but has some profound lessons in it as well. In one scene each of them is asked to recount their best and worst days. One of them describes a horrible day that leaves everyone listening stunned at how bad it was. When they want to know what his best day was, he simply answers that it was the same day. Now there’s a thought worth thinking about.

One of the devotional messages here at the retreat included the story of a man who, when he turned 50, declared with confidence that the coming decade would be the best of his life, and it was. When he turned 60, he said the same thing, and it turned out that it was. I thought, why not carry that into every area of my life. I determined then and there that this would be the best week of my life. Not only that, I decided to set out each morning declaring that today would be the best day of my life. A friend once told me that attitude determines altitude and that stuck with me. If I want to fly, I need to change my attitude, press the “reset” button on the way I’m doing life. This seemed a good way to start.  

Of course, the only way you can say that sort of thing with any confidence is if you understand that every single day has the potential to be the best one of your life when God is in it, no matter what it might hold. I made a choice many years ago to give my life to God and receive His in return. That means He is present in every one of my days. That’s His promise and my reality though I often tend to forget it.

So, what about those days when everything goes wrong, bad things happen, or I mess up somehow? Let’s face it, not every day is sunshine and roses. How can I look back at the end of it and call it the best day of my life? How can anybody? The big question is, did I meet God there? Did I remember that He is always present? Did I let His love (which is bigger than any problem by the way) fill me, sustain me, strengthen me, comfort me? That’s what love does. Knowing that He loves me, and experiencing it in my darkest moments, is what can make my worst day also my best day.

Moments like that transform us. They are the birthplace of the confidence and peace that should be the mark of every believer’s life. That’s the hope that we can offer to the world. His promise can become anyone’s reality and every single day has the potential to be the best day of our lives.

Image by Jill Wellington from Pixabay