June 18 - Colossians 3:14
“And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”
Have you ever thought about dressing yourself with love when you put on the rest of your clothes in the morning? Or when you go out to dinner with friends and get all dressed up! What about when you dress for that power meeting with an employee or boss?
Yesterday I wrote a bit about how God’s love should flow through us to the world. We are close to His heart and from there the love fills our hearts.
But, sometimes it just isn’t that easy. We have to make a conscious choice to love.
Re-read that verse again. “Over all these virtues (compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience) put on love, which binds them all together.
We can do compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience without truly loving. They aren’t nearly as effective, but they can be acts that we perform. But, without love they are nothing. They mean nothing to those that receive and they mean less than nothing to us. It’s actually difficult to even imagine performing these acts without a modicum of love. Fortunately, we don’t have to. We understand that love is the most important of all the virtues, that without it we have nothing.
I imagine a soft, comfortable flannel shirt (one of my favorites) that smells like lavender and vanilla. It’s one of the last things I put on in the morning and the scents surround me while the sensation of the soft flannel warms me on a crisp morning.
Now, imagine love covering you like that shirt as you walk through your day. A breeze flutters by and the scent of lavender trickles by your nose reminding you of comfort. You brush past a person on the street and the flannel touches your skin again. You kiss your kids as they run out the door to be with friends, knowing that whether they identify it or not, they will always know of your love for them. As you brush the hand of the waitress who hands you your bill after lunch, you share just a moment of caring with her, reminding her that for a moment she cared for you and you care for her. You hold a door open for a mom and her three kids, give her a smile that tells her she’ll get through another day. At work or at church, you allow someone else to use your idea so that this time they are heard above the noise and feel good about their moment.
There are so many ways to share the virtues of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. When you cover yourself with love as you walk through your day, I suspect you will return to your home filled with that same love.
“And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”
Have you ever thought about dressing yourself with love when you put on the rest of your clothes in the morning? Or when you go out to dinner with friends and get all dressed up! What about when you dress for that power meeting with an employee or boss?
Yesterday I wrote a bit about how God’s love should flow through us to the world. We are close to His heart and from there the love fills our hearts.
But, sometimes it just isn’t that easy. We have to make a conscious choice to love.
Re-read that verse again. “Over all these virtues (compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience) put on love, which binds them all together.
We can do compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience without truly loving. They aren’t nearly as effective, but they can be acts that we perform. But, without love they are nothing. They mean nothing to those that receive and they mean less than nothing to us. It’s actually difficult to even imagine performing these acts without a modicum of love. Fortunately, we don’t have to. We understand that love is the most important of all the virtues, that without it we have nothing.
I imagine a soft, comfortable flannel shirt (one of my favorites) that smells like lavender and vanilla. It’s one of the last things I put on in the morning and the scents surround me while the sensation of the soft flannel warms me on a crisp morning.
Now, imagine love covering you like that shirt as you walk through your day. A breeze flutters by and the scent of lavender trickles by your nose reminding you of comfort. You brush past a person on the street and the flannel touches your skin again. You kiss your kids as they run out the door to be with friends, knowing that whether they identify it or not, they will always know of your love for them. As you brush the hand of the waitress who hands you your bill after lunch, you share just a moment of caring with her, reminding her that for a moment she cared for you and you care for her. You hold a door open for a mom and her three kids, give her a smile that tells her she’ll get through another day. At work or at church, you allow someone else to use your idea so that this time they are heard above the noise and feel good about their moment.
There are so many ways to share the virtues of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. When you cover yourself with love as you walk through your day, I suspect you will return to your home filled with that same love.
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment