Last week I shared the first part of the One Month to Live book series I picked up recently. The section discussed living passionately and included many great insights. You all seemed to enjoy it, so I decided to continue with part two this week. Let’s talk love!

God’s Love Helps Us Love Others: It takes a huge investment to give ourselves over to other people and care for them. Love carries a price – sacrificing your own desires at times, risking pain or disappointment, facing potential loss, and more. Loving is not easy. We need God’s help to go beyond ourselves and have the commitment to invest in our relationships fully.

We Need Others…But Challenges Will Happen: The most effective way to get through life is with a team of support from loved ones. However, just like sports teams or business teams, our relationships will have occasional conflicts and flare-ups. The most common scenarios include misunderstandings, a “me-first” attitude, and mistakes we all make that need forgiveness. Part of love is accepting others and not trying to change them. We all have qualities and faults that can present a problem or frustration to someone else. Focus on letting God change you instead of you trying to change other people.

Forgive: Without forgiveness we would drown in bitterness. Refusing to forgive others only hurts ourselves because we hold on to resentment and allow those hurting us to continue having the power. It is okay to be angry. It is even okay to be angry with God. However, we must find a way to express that anger in a healthful way so we can move on.

Action Required: Actions speak louder than words. Be sure your actions match up to the love you declare. Also, pay attention to actions that mean something to the other person. What does your spouse or friend really desire? Give what they need…not what you think they need.

Have an Attitude of Gratitude: What prevents us from noticing more of those everyday moments we have to feel thankful for? How often do we forget to thank God for the people in our lives..and to show them our appreciation? A simple thank you goes a long way.

Communicate: We have to communicate to have a relationship. Yet too often in today’s society effective communication gets lost in the hustle and bustle of life. We skimp on relationship time to be more “efficient” in life, but only end up hurting and longing for those connections God wants for us to have. How do we communicate? We listen intently. We share our time. We expose our hearts. We share our needs. We strive to understand. And God is like the satellite in that the more connected you are to Him, the clearer the signal to those with whom you communicate.

Gotta love love. Hope you enjoyed reading this week’s topic. See you in the morning!

• What do you think is the hardest for you to manage in relationships - misunderstandings, a “me-first” attitude, or mistakes needing forgiveness?
• What is the last loving action you showed someone? Keep it clean, people! 😉

I recently began a new book called One Month to Live. The book focuses on living life to the fullest through Biblical principles. I am in love with it! The book is broken down into four parts - one for each week -and each part has a different motivational reading for each day. After getting into this book, and hearing your interest in the study, I decided I have to do a weekly feature sharing some of the great insights I picked up from each day. So, let’s get started!

PRINCIPLE ONE: LIVE PASSIONATELY

Don’t Fear What Excites You: Many people’s favorite day of the week is “someday” – meaning that we will put off our hopes, dreams, desires, and goals because we can’t get to them TODAY. We will also think life will not really satisfy until that day comes and lose appreciation for TODAY. The biggest thing that holds us back? Fear! Keep a God-centered perspective and those big giants that make our passions somewhat scary quickly become small ants from His viewpoint. Our biggest dreams require faith.

Use Time Wisely: Don’t live life frivolously. Time is our most valuable commodity and we should use it on the things that really matter to us. We must engage ourselves in the present and take a close look at our lives, our days, and what ways we waste our time. This passage instigated my one and only goal for the month of August!

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Stay Connected to God: For spiritual health we must remain connected to God through communication (prayer) and confession (so we can move past troubles). God can work through us and fulfill our lives. That is His responsibility. Our responsibility simply comes in staying connected.

Take Care of Yourself: Notice that the popular Bible verse saying the second top commandment is to “love your neighbor as yourself”? Yea. That’s right. God wants us to love ourselves and care for ourselves. How you treat your body and spirit has a direct and lasting impact on the quality of life you can enjoy.

Don’t Have A Narrow View Of Life: God wants to work through us. We can’t get so caught up in trying to control our paths that we don’t see other possibilities and opportunities for growth that He readily gives. Stay open to God’s plans.

Live The Dream: Our dreams tug at our heartstrings for a reason – they are God given. Remember that when facing doubt or challenges or waiting periods in the dreams and passions you pursue. If it’s from God, it will find a way to work.

Failure Doesn’t Matter: We will have failures. We will have mistakes. However, God doesn’t view our mistakes and then shout “I told you so!” at us. He looks on us with compassion and helps us power through. The failures teach us something. They have a purpose and we can’t allow them to hinder living our lives.

Good stuff, huh? I will now leave you with my favorite quote:

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. For what the world needs is people who have come alive”. – Howard Thurman

• Which of the seven days’ lessons struck you the most?