Chapter 1, Page 31, Book 15

January 31st - worthy of love

Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. That is not our business and, in fact, it is nobody's business. What we are asked to do is to love, and this love itself will render both ourselves and our neighbors worthy if anything can. 

Thomas Merton

Loving and respecting others means allowing them to be themselves.  When you stop expecting people to be a certain way, you can begin to appreciate them more. Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle, just like you.

Remember that people rarely behave exactly the way you want them to.  Hope for the best, but expect less.  Everyone dislikes being judged, criticized, and rejected as unworthy. We all want to be loved, appreciated and respected. Judging others makes us blind, whereas love is illuminating.

We can judge others or we can love others -
but we can't do both at the same time.

Author Unknown

 By forgiving ourselves and others, we clear away barriers to giving and receiving love. Love is the most powerful force that exists. Add love to forgiveness and you have a very, very powerful combination.

You're imperfect, and you're wired for struggle, but you are worthy of love and belonging.

Brene Brown

Chapter 1, Page 30, Book 15

January 30th

Absence sharpens love, presence strengthens it. 

Thomas Fuller

There is a saying that absence makes the heart grow fonder and there is another adage that says, out of sight, out of mind.  It's kind of like you don't know what you have until it's gone. In your absence the person you love will understand how much you mean to them and the void you leave behind. 

For two who are close in heart and mind . . . the miles that
    separate them are no more than inches.
     

 It applys to friendship and also relationship.  I believe that having a chance to miss each other teaches us important lessons..  Avoiding taking each other for granted can be hard, but it is crucial.  I think absence helps keep the gratitude for that person alive and kicking.  Reuniting is always exciting and special.  

The times we do spend together strengthen our love for family and friends.  We build relationships by being present in each others lives.  I can never outdo the joys and  benefits of sharing time and space with those I love.  

Life is a matter of passing the time enjoyably. There may be other
    things in life, but I've been too busy passing my time enjoyably
    to think very deeply about them.

Peter Cook 

Chapter 1, Page 29, Book 15

January 29th - Sincere love

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.

Romans 12:9 

This is a good verse to live by.  Sincere love must be free from deceit, and unmeaning and deceitful compliments and have peaceable conduct towards all men, with forbearance and benevolence.  Our love should  not be seeking our own credit or profit, but the good of many.  It must be genuine - the real thing. 

To be sincere is having or showing true feelings that are expessesd in an honest way. : genuine or real : not false, fake, or pretended.  Sincerity of feeling, intent and presentation touches the hearts of everyone. Do things out of the goodness of your heart; don't seek a reward or do things to acquire things from people. When you give without expecting the boomerang effect to occur, the giving becomes an act of sincerity and an expression of your genuine concern for and interest in others

Sincere love is a commitment to do good to someone else, to make them a priority, the focus of our attention. The good news is that when you show an interest in others and the things that are important to them, they will show an interest in you and the things that are important to you!

I do hope you all aren’t sick of reading about my topic for the year - LOVE.   There are so many quotes, poems and stories to share on the subject that I don’t think I’m going to run out.  It seems every other article I read seems to have something to do with love or the lack of it these days.  

Sincerely Yours

xoxo

Life is just a short walk
from the cradle to the grave,
and it sure behooves us to be kind
to one another along the way.

Alice Childress

Chapter 1, Page 28, Book 15

Smiles


Smiling is infectious,
You catch it like the flu,
When someone smiled at me today,
I started smiling too.

I passed around the corner,
And someone saw my grin,
When he smiled I realized,
I'd passed it on to him.

I thought about that smile,
Then realized its worth,
A single smile, just like mine,
Could travel round the earth.

So, if you feel a smile begin,
Don't leave it undetected.
Let's start an epidemic quick,
And get the world infected.

 Author Unknown 

January 28th - Love is what makes you smile when you're tired.

Some days, it’s easy to smile. You wake up to the sounds of birds chirping, with the warm glow of the morning sun cradling your face.  Some days we have all we can do to get out of bed and start another day.  But love makes us get up and go to work, or fix breakfast, or clean house. 

Blow me a kiss from across the room. Say I look nice when I'm not. Touch my hair as you pass my chair. Little things mean a lot….

These little things, be they gestures, actions, or words, are the many small things that we do every day and that naturally express our heart. They are not the result of calculations or intentions, but are rather spontaneous expressions of what we feel moved to do.

It may mean caring for an elderly parent, being patient with a difficult child or a wearisome neighbor, or working faithfully at our everyday tasks.  We do a lot of things for love even though we’re dead tired.  And the nice thing is that it leaves us with a smile on our face.

I think it's important to find the little things in everyday life that make you happy.

Paula Cole

 Love is closely associated with happiness, and it is no wonder that small gestures can elicit great happiness. Continued happiness does not come from occasional grand achievements, but from the little things that fill our daily lives and make us smile.

When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece.

John Ruskin

For January 27th, 2015

January 27th - love lost

I hold it true, whateer befall;

I feel it, when I sorrow most;

Tis better to have loved and lost

Than never to have loved at all. 

Alfred Lord Tennyson

I’m going to use myself as an example today.  I’ve loved and lost but I don’t regret any of the love I’ve given or received in my life.  How can love be anything but great!   

I’ve loved lots of things and lots of people.  I can remember my first love, the puppy love of a teenager.  I remember falling in love only to find out that my love wasn’t returned to.

I loved a man and married him.  He died over 20 years ago, but I’ll never regret falling in love with him.

A life with love must have some thorns,
but a life with no love will have no roses.

 Author Unknown

I love my children.  As they grew up and found their own loves and ways of life, I had to let them go.

I found myself some very good and loving friends along the way too.  Some of those friends were only in my life for a short time, and some proved themselves long lasting friends that are still mine to love today.

No matter what we go through, I’d have to say, YES, it is better to have loved and lost, than never to love at all.

There is no better feeling than love.  

Chapter 1, Page 26, Book 15

January 26th - Love is in season

To everything there is a season, and time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace

The Bible

They say that when the weather warms up, instead of wind chill, it’s love that's in the air. Spring time blossoms and so does love.  Forget the birds and the bees. Skunks reek of love, at least during January and February. It's their mating season, when love is in the air. Oh dear !

It seems impossible that this is now the last week of January and next week we’ll find out what the Ground Hog has to say about what’s left of winter.  

To me there is always season and time for love.  It doesn’t need a special season.  Time may fly by,  but it’s never a bad time to take the time to love.

We can choose to put more love into our encounters with those who are close to us and, and even with those who are not. Any time we take to show love is the right time.  

There are some people who show love by doing, by making things, creating projects or engaging in small acts of kindness, and others who show and want to receive love through being, snuggling, doing mundane activities together, just spending time in the other’s presence. 

I think that we’ve all got to be a bit of both to find that balance between doing and being 

Take Time


Take time to laugh
It is the music of the soul.


Take time to think
It is the source of power.


Take time to play
It is the source of perpetual youth.


Take time to read
It is the fountain of wisdom.


Take time to pray
It is the greatest power on earth.


Take time to be friendly
It is the road to happiness.


Take time to give
It is too short a day to be selfish.


Take time to work
It is the price of success.


Take time to love and be loved
It is a God-given privilege.


Author Unknown 

Chapter 1, Page 25, Book 15

January 25th - Love lightens the load

Love carries through many difficulties easily and makes heavy burdens light.

John Cotton Jr.

Love lightens every load. When we love people, we want to do what love requires. And even if there are difficulties involved, love makes us eager to respond anyway.  We can endure almost anything if we have someone at our side who truly loves us, who is easing the burden and lightening the load. Love does that, it lightens every load and makes us eager to help, even at great cost.  It moves us to be generous, kind, merciful, patient and even extravagant. AND, we don’t do what we do because we have to, but because we want to.

In order to maximize your life and relationships, you also have to minimize your load. We must focus on what's important when it comes to our relationships.  Sometimes lightening our load means knowing when to release things. We can move ahead and conserve our strength for things that count, like the people in our lives. 

We can easily manage if we will only take, each day, the burden appointed to it. But the load will be too heavy for us if we carry yesterday's burden over again today, and then add the burden of the morrow before we are required to bear it.

 John Newton