They say a picture is worth a thousand words.
But I also believe there are some words that are worth a thousand pictures.
Love.
Such a powerful word. One that makes you feel good. One that opens you up to a world of hurt.
Love can be the pinnacle of acceptance. But can also leave one in the deepest pit of rejection.
It can be flippantly spoken. I love chocolate. I love skiing.
It can cause a fond rush. I love pictures drawn by my kids. I love my husband's signature.
It can be a sweet balm. I love being your friend.
It can be an intense invitation that redefines you. I love you and want you to be my wife.
It can be the very essence of life. Jesus.
But it is such a slippery word. So hard to contain, reign in, or control.
You can offer it... but you can not make someone accept it.
You can live it...and still have people misunderstand it.
And then how do you really measure someone else's true feelings. By one conversation or the culmination of years of conversations?
Box it in and love runs away. Let it go and maybe love will return.
Maybe. Maybe not.
Fall into the arms of the only One truly worthy to be called love.
And He whispers, "Perfect love casts out fear. Perfect love dies for you. Perfect love remains."
Always remains. Always.
But I also believe there are some words that are worth a thousand pictures.
Love.
Such a powerful word. One that makes you feel good. One that opens you up to a world of hurt.
Love can be the pinnacle of acceptance. But can also leave one in the deepest pit of rejection.
It can be flippantly spoken. I love chocolate. I love skiing.
It can cause a fond rush. I love pictures drawn by my kids. I love my husband's signature.
It can be a sweet balm. I love being your friend.
It can be an intense invitation that redefines you. I love you and want you to be my wife.
It can be the very essence of life. Jesus.
But it is such a slippery word. So hard to contain, reign in, or control.
You can offer it... but you can not make someone accept it.
You can live it...and still have people misunderstand it.
And then how do you really measure someone else's true feelings. By one conversation or the culmination of years of conversations?
Box it in and love runs away. Let it go and maybe love will return.
Maybe. Maybe not.
Fall into the arms of the only One truly worthy to be called love.
And He whispers, "Perfect love casts out fear. Perfect love dies for you. Perfect love remains."
Always remains. Always.
32 Comments:
"And if I have faith that can move mountains but have not love..."
I Cor 13:1
And if I have a powerful ministry but have not love...
And if I have pushed my stuff down pretending all is okay but have not love for my husband or friend...
What do I have? GONG.
I am a resounding gong, a clanging cymbal.
What I love about you Lysa is that you let the Bible read us as you shepherd us. You're a shepherd after HIM Jeremiah 17:16.
That is beautiful. Always.
Much love,
Angela
Thanks so much for the smiles! :-)
Wow. I'm speechless.
That is a LOVEly post. You have such a gift for wrapping God's truth in beautiful words.
*sigh*
lovely.
Beautiful, Lysa. Just beautiful. Thanks!
"Perfect love casts out fear."
So amazing. Thanks!
Love IS the very essence of life for me - Jesus! He is the very air I breathe. Thanks for the beautiful reminder.
Forgot to mention - my son just taught me a life lesson about love. I wrote a post about it this past Wednesday - "The Eye of the Beholder". So thankful that God's love is unconditional. Rejoicing again in that reminder today.
Lysa,
What a beautiful truthfilled post! It just set the tone for my heart this morning as I ready for worship services, focusing upon His love.
Thank you for visitng the Quill and to answer your question, unfortunately the recipe book is not for sale. I dare say none of the artist who participated in the swap would part with theirs. I will gladly share any recipes you might be interested in.
May the Lord bless and keep you. May His face shine upon you. May He be gracious unto you and bless you with peace this Lord's day.
Thank you so much for your sweet comment on my blog! I was so excited when I saw your name. I love P31 and listen to you on the radio! You have been a wonderful encouragement to me through P31. You have my dream job! Thanks!
My husband is getting ready for church. I just popped my head in and said, " I just can't wait for church this morning. God's love sustains me. I LOVE to hear His word!!
Thank you Lysa. We're stuck inside, not going to church today because I'm too much of a Southern Californian to brave the 40-below wind chills outside (we live in MN).
Perfect love. So different from our human concept of love. Perfect love. I'll be pondering that for the morning, thanks!!!!
I love the verse in 1 John 4:19 that says of believer's "We love Him because He first loved us."
Nice post!
Well said, perfect!
Thank you Lysa. I really appreciated that. Have been feeling a bit flat lately and it was so good to be reminded of the constancy, consistancy and overwhelmingness of God's live.Thank you!
Love and blessings,
Rachel.
Hi Lysa! Here is the link to the recipe that I was talking about on my blog. It is so yummy and easy to make.
http://livingproofministries.blogspot.com/2007/11/recipe-by-popular-demand.html
I was going to type it out, but Beth's version is more fun to read because she adds her own little comments as she goes!
Thanks for stopping by my blog! Have a great Sunday.
Darlene
Lysa,
What a wonderful message--so simple and so powerful. You are such an inspiring example of God's transforming power when we say, "Yes, Lord. I'll do it."
Thanks for your encouraging comments on my blog. I can't wait for She Speaks!
Blessings,
Kelli
WOAH! Can I have that one printed out and wallpaper my kitchen with it?
(possibly the bedroom, bathroom, laundry room...)
Fall into the arms of the one Truly worthy to be called love.
I will meditate on that one for some time!
Thanks Lysa & God bless!
Lori B
Very beautiful. funny as I was reading this a thought that came to mind was Jesus is love's lip balm for our heart. I don't know why I thought that but it is like a healing balm to our wounded hearts.
blessings
Thank you so much for your comment. Thank you for even coming by my blog! I have to laugh, though. I think I was sick the last time you came by, and another time I was asking for prayer for someone else. Oh, my. How about this, if I am posting a "needy" post, I'll put up a warning, and you can come back another day! :)
I am so sorry Brooke is sick! I will be praying for her.
You truly are a blessing, Lysa!
I LOVE coming by your blog daily.
Kimberly :)
Beautifully said Lysa. Love is the most wonderful thing...the love of God, the love of our spouses, our children, our friends. What a wonderful gift love is!!
In His graces~Pamela
Beautiful post! Because love is a beautiful thing! Thank you for sharing this with us!
Lindsee
When I hear people use the love word flippantly, it bothers me. Maybe because I know how much work it takes to truly love someone.
Good stuff, Lysa.
Wow! Love is complex, beautiful, simple.....is it the root of everything?? I loved this. Thank you so much.
Hey girlfriend. How on earth can you make EVERY. SINGLE. POST. so amazing???
You can get the personalized candy online. www.mymms.com
You should definitely get some! They are so fun!
This is a great post and I needed to hear it. That little statement about loving your husband's signature started me thinking about the many little things I love about my husband.
Timely blog post considering yesterday I was feeling a lot of the opposite toward one person yesterday! UGH!
I needed to read what you wrote about love.
Perfect love remains.
I will hold on to that today.
Thanks, Lysa. That one was for me! :)
Lysa,
I loved this post. It reminded me for some reason of the post your wrote back in November about the perfect gift... the one the husband wrote to his sick wife. I think you need to re post that one for Valentine's day too.
We can love Him and anyone else because He first loved us.
This is the first time I've visited your blog and I was blessed by it. I have a husband who shows his love in practical ways that don't alway include flowers or candy(like taking care of the household when I had brain surgery). I appreciate God giving me such a great guy!
This past Sunday, February 17, I had a difficult conversation with a close guy friend. He thought that I was in love with him because I show him that I care for him. He felt like I overstepped the boundaries that he had set for his friendship (though he acknowledges that he neglected to even make me aware of those and that he let me overstep them). Well, it ended up being the sort of thing where neither of us knew what to do, but we would just go with the flow and see where that takes us.
I journaled on Monday night, "Isn't love supposed to conquer all?" I doubted, for a second, that the love that we had for each other, even as friends, was a good thing. I journaled, "Friendship - is it supposed to be this difficult? Are we supposed to have these fights? Are we supposed to care so much that we have these hard conversations and cry?"
I have come to discover that the reason that we had such a difficult conversation was simply because we do care for each other and want the best for each other. That means creating tighter boundaries for how much time we spend together, and that's okay. It's for the best.
But, I just wanted to thank you for perfectly expressing the way that I feel through this blog. Love is such a difficult thing. Friend love, family love, romantic love. It's complex, but simple; fragile, but so strong. But, God's love is perfect, and unyielding, something that I can never be separated from because of Christ. And through the situation I'm going through, God has shown me his desire to woo me, though I've been unfaithful (like Israel in Hosea); through your blog, God has reminded me that His love is totally perfect.
Sorry if my thoughts are random. :-)
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