Just Breathe

What Is Love?

With Valentine's Day having just passed, I'm daring to ask the question..."What is love?".

The dictionary tells us that love is a deep, tender, strong feeling of affection toward a person; an intense emotional attachment.  Love is to cherish or hold dear.  I think love is also when you put another person's happiness before your own.  Therefore, I believe love is sacrifice.

It's been said that love is an action not an emotion.  I believe it can be both.  Love is freely given without expectation.  Love is not what you say, it's what you do.

According to the Bible...love is patient, it's kind.  It does not envy, and it does not boast or brag.  Love is not arrogant or rude.  It does not insist on having its own way.  It's not resentful, it does not rejoice at bad behavior; instead it rejoices with truth.  Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never ends.  (I Corinithians 13:4-8 paraphrased)  So these verses tell us that love is unconditional.  We don't just love someone when they're in our good graces; we love them at all times.  We love them as God loves us.

I John 4:19 tells us that "...He (God) first loved us".  God loves us so much that He sent His only Son to die for our sins (John 3:16).  God loves us unconditionally.

God is the perfect example of love because God is love.

"...God is love"
I John 4:8

Just Breathe

Love Hurts

Love hurts...it's an unchanging fact.  True love cannot be separated from pain because true love is wanting the best for the ones you love.  If they are in pain, you are in pain.  And you are willing to "sacrifice" your own desires for their good.

What is sacrifice?  We're told that sacrifice is to give up something that is valuable to you in order to help others or those you love.

What is love?  The dictionary tells us it's a deep affection for something or someone that you like or enjoy very much. 

To sacrifice yourself can be as important as holding someone's hand while they're battling cancer, or maybe you have a loved one who's struggling with depression or anxiety.  While these things can require much sacrifice, I believe the little things that you do every day for the ones you love count as self-sacrifice, as well.  To sacrifice yourself honors God, and God is love.

But the greatest sacrifice of all times was given by God Himself when He sacrificed His precious Son for us.  (John 3:16)  Love hurts...

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."
John 15:13

Tomorrow Is Not Promised

It was a week ago today that we lost Kobe Bryant, his daughter, Gianna, and several of their friends in a helicopter crash. While I'm not even a basketball or sports fan, I've often heard the name Kobe Bryant.  And although I didn't know much about this famous basketball star...he, his daughter, and the others who perished with them have been on my mind all week.

From what I've read of Kobe, he seems like he was a good man.  Just like the rest of us, he made a few mistakes; but all-in-all, he seemed to be a good husband and father.  He was a star athlete, he formed a foundation with his wife for young people, and he assisted the homeless.  And - like myself - he was a major Disney fan!  *smile*

But most importantly, Kobe believed in God.  And it's this that gives me hope that he was saved and knew our Lord and Savior.  It's also this fact that in his last moments with his daughter that he turned to God for strength.  They say your life flashes before your eyes.  All I can imagine is that you're thinking of the loved ones you're leaving behind.  He had to have thought of his wife and his other three daughters; he had to have wondered if they'd be okay.  He had to be thinking about his beautiful daughter sitting beside him.  I've imagined that he must have been holding her and trying to comfort her knowing that their lives were about to end.  And it would be at this moment, that he would be most thankful for his faith in God.

Do you have that faith?  Do you believe in God?  Have you accepted Him as your Lord and Savior?  We are not promised tomorrow. Live for today because you never know what tomorrow can bring or what it can take.

 "Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away."
James 4:14

May you rest in peace...

Kobe Bryant
Gianna Bryant
John Altobelli
Keri Altobelli
Alyssa Altobelli
Christina Mauser
Sarah Chester
Payton Chester
Ara Zobaya