Be a LIGHT in the world for others.

I closed out 2012 by really taking a good hard look at all that had occurred during the span of the last 365 days in my own little world.

Much of who I had viewed myself to have been had been challenged;  my faith was tested and my world flipped completely on its side.  But… I wouldn’t have traded the lessons that I’ve learned nor the blessings that have been revealed along this difficult path.  I don’t carry around the hurts and offenses; I’ve long forgiven them and let them go.  I faced what I feared most this year, and discovered that the one thing that I thought would crumble me didn’t.  In moments of pain, I found strength in my faith, knowing that pain only shows me that God isn’t yet done with me.  His plan is one that ends in good, and if you aren’t experiencing the good yet- then you just haven’t arrived at your purpose yet!  In many ways, it was both one of the worst and one of the best years I have yet to experienced.

The most valuable lesson I’ve learned in 2012:

Love has been the light in the darkness for me.

Love thy neighbor.  Hmmm…. I think I’ve heard that somewhere?
{Mark 12:31}  {Matthew 7:12}  {Luke 6:31}

During my days of teaching religious education, regardless of age, my favorite lessons were always the ones that concerned the Great Commandment.  It gives us the simplest way to guide our everyday decisions, whether they concern outcomes of small or large impact, and whether we are five years of age, or one-hundred and five years of age, it is the same rule, yielding the same sense of peace and joy when we choose to follow it.

By this time next month, we will be flooded with images of sweet, endearing love.  The kind confetti-ed with pink hearts and romance.  The simple truth of the matter that to truly love someone takes so much more than that.  The only true imperfect form of love, is God’s love, and He loves each and everyone of us the same.  On our ugliest days, when we turn our back to Him, he still loves us.  When we take for granted the blessings he provides, He still loves us.  When we hurt the ones closest to us or ignore strangers on the street, He still loves us.  He still waits for us to stop in our tracks and realize that HIS love and forgiveness is the greatest gift that anyone of us will ever receive.  It is not packaged with an arrow toting cupid, and a box of chocolates- it is a love that as a parent, we strive to give.  It is the love that we pray to find in a partner, and it is the love of strangers reaching out in the midst of tragedy. We are His hands, His voice His way to give His love.  It is the only thing He asks of us.  To love others.

What does this kind of love look like?  How do we become the light of love to others in this sometimes dark world?  We roll up our sleeves, and everyday, we chose to love one another this way, HIS way:

Can you challenge yourself to live with that kind of love this year?  If you do, you will be rewarded with a peace like you’ve never really known before.  Just imagine, if we lived in a world where everyone acted with a bit more love in their everyday life, what we as a society would be able to achieve.  That’s the world I want most for my daughter, so that is the way that I choose to live.  What about you?