Yesterday I simply wrote down each of these words and asked when you think about these words what kinds of things come to mind. Well, today I will share what each of these words means to me. Bear with me. This is long, I know, but I put my heart into it and I hope you can gain something from it. Here goes.
Love. If you haven't already noticed love is a sort of theme in my blog. Its something I could write about forever. Love means life. It means joy, laughter, heartbreak, compassion, submission, and the list goes on and on. I love to love, and I love to show people that I love them. My love language, one of them anyway, is giving. I find so much joy from baking for my friends and family. I find even more joy from spending quality time with them. I wrote a few posts ago about the little things in life, and its those that I love to give to other - my time, my baking skills, etc. Its amazing how something so small can be so powerful.
Joy. This is not only a meaningful word, its also my middle name, which honestly makes it even more meaningful to me. When I am filled with joy I don't hid it, I can't. I smile and laugh without being able to control it, but would I change that about myself? Not in a million years. I believe that a smile can change a life. Maybe someone walking past me on the streets has decided to commit suicide today. They see me smile at them as we pass each other and maybe, just maybe they change their minds. I can only pray that me sharing a simple smile or laugh has impacted someone's life for the better. That would be a beautiful gift.
Forgiveness. My pastor used to say forgiveness is for us, not for the other person. By forgiving someone we are choosing to lay the situation (however big or small) in His hands. When we keep from forgiving someone we are essentially telling God to back off and that we are handling it. When in reality we cannot possibly handle it, and keeping forgiveness from someone only tears us up more each day. I have a hard time with this because I often can't shake the horrible mindset that if we forgive someone it makes what they did to us ok. That is not what it means. At all. It's a hard lesson to learn, but an important one.
Dream. I love this word. I have given up on planning my life, because God always has something bigger and better in store for me when I submit to Him! But I will never give up on dreaming. It takes me back to my childhood. Dreaming allows me to travel the world, to meet my compassion boy, to imagine my future preschool classroom. Dreaming is a beautiful thing, and a great way to escape, if only for a few moments, the craziness and stress and business of every day life.
Justice. I have a few soap boxes around me, justice is one where I could step on that box and talk for hours. Social justice, justice for children, justice for those held in sex trafficking, etc etc. I think it is so important for those of us who can to stand up for those who can't. We are essentially all they have. If we don't stand up for them who will? If we don't stand up for those held in sex trafficking than what makes us think they will ever be released from it? Yes, God is the only one with the power to change the course of someone's life, and yes He does that without our help. But I also believe that He has called us to love and care for those who need love the most. Orphans, children living in poverty, widows, and the list goes on.
Family. I don't even know where to begin. My family is the greatest family in the world. Yes, we are disfunctional at times, and yes we have our problems, but in the end they will always be there. And they have proved that true time and time again. Simply put, I love my family with all my heart.
Faith. Faith is hope. Faith is love. Faith is remembering the cross and believing that the One who died on that cross did so for you and for me. If I were the only person in the world, Christ still would have died on the cross. Just for me. What a crazy, mind-blowing thought. But one that is so true. Faith is trusting that He is there for us and loves us more than we can imagine. Faith is knowing that He loves us period. There is nothing, NOTHING, we can do to make Him love us any more or any less. Faith is looking at that cross and falling on our knees because we know that we are so undeserving of His love and sacrifices. But Faith is knowing that we are worth it. That God has us on this earth for a purpose and we are worth being loved and cared about and fought for. We are worth it.
Trust. This can be scary. I know many of us have trusted and been hurt time and time again. I know I have. But trust is believing that even if we do get hurt, there was a reason that person was put in our lives (for however long or short of a time period). Even if it was simply to make us stronger and show us who in our lives are going to be there for us no matter what. Trust is scary, but in the end trust pays off.
Tenderness. Like many woman, I have a motherly way about myself. I love loving, comforting, serving, and taking care of others. Tenderness encompasses mothering. Tenderness is being gentle and loving.
Life. I choose to leave this one as is and only say this. Live. Laugh. Love.
Compassion. This word is near and dear to my heart for 2 reasons. I believe God calls us each to be compassionate toward others, its essential. But Compassion means more than just that to me. Compassion means Joshua. It means Kenya, and a little boy who, in a letter the other day signed it, "your loving son, Joshua". I have sponsored Joshua for almost 2 years, and because he is only 7 years old I still get beautiful letters from him with drawings and stories and report cards, I truly feel like a mother, with the exception of having physical contact with him. It is my dream and hope that one day I can go to Kenya and visit him. I imagine embracing him with open, loving arms, and never wanting to let go. Compassion is love.
Brokenness. God breaks us. He wants us to get to the point where the only thing we can do is fall before His throne and let Him fill us and make us whole again. He wants us to never forget that He is our Father and that we need Him in our lives. But brokenness, sadly, is more than that. It is looking into the eyes of a young child living in poverty, brokenness is looking at the parents or family of that child and seeing hope wrapped in hopelessness. You can see that deep deep down they are hopeful for a change, but that is buried beneath layers upon layers of hopelessness. Brokenness is that part of my heart that hurts when I see that and that wants nothing more than to fix it all, wishing it were as simple as putting on a bandaid and kissing the boo-boo.
Submission. This is often equated with the husband-wife relationship only. And while it is crucial in that relationship, it is even more essential in our relationship with our Father. God knows us, inside and out, He knows what is best for us and He has laid out a plan for each of us. Submission is recognizing that and trusting that He will follow through. God is a God who keeps His promises. Submission is letting go and lying at His feet waiting.
I leave you with this: "For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God." Ephesians 3:14-19 (ESV).
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