I’m always looking to grow and help others that are opened to grow spiritually. What we look for, we get, that’s the law of attraction, explained the best in Matthew 7:7, seek and you shall find. This spiritual lesson will take you closer to operating in the oneness with God is you so desire and believe
Up until recently, I thought that one would love a spouse more than any one else, or love their child better than any other child.
Last Friday I ran into an old friend of 27 years, we talked about family and my take on loving your spouse more than anything. He gently nudged me and replied, “no, I only love one way, and I love everyone the same, 100%”. He continues on and says, “I wake up in the morning with the same love, I give 100% of my love to everyone, including my wife, and each day my wife and everyone else chooses how much of my love she (they) keep each day. When I wake up tomorrow, no matter what happens today, I still dish out the same kind of love, 100%’.
I told him that I was going to share his thought/phrase, ” I only love one way, and I love everyone the same, 100%”, he said “it’s not a thought or phrase, it’s what I live by”
To be honest, at first, I couldn’t understand it, I left the conversation with the question of how can you love everyone the same as you love your wife?
I pondered all night over the conversation. On Saturday morning I woke, and God provided me with the answer I was seeking. God said, “He is correct! Just as I love My people the same, each day, YOU and all of My people wake with all of My Love, and YOU choose just how much of My Love YOU Keep. When you wake tomorrow, My Love doesn’t change, but how much of My Love YOU Keep does change. I am unchangeable and My Love remains the same.”
With new thoughts to think on, I realize that, Love is Love, when we truly love, our spouse, our children, our family, our friends, our pastor, it’s all the same, unconditional, unjudgmental. We either love someone or we don’t, there’s no in-between and there’s no sometimes.
John 15:12 reads: This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. and 1 John 4:11 says: Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
God did not separate the kind of love by title. God said love one another. I have not found a verse that says, Husbands love your wife more than everyone else in fact, in Ephesians 5:25 God says Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; in verse 33 He goes on to say, Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.True love is described in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8,
Love is ALWAYS
- patient
- kind
- rejoicing in the truth
- protecting
- trusting
- hoping
- persevering
Love is NEVER
- envying
- boasting
- dishonoring others
- delighting in evil
- proud
- self-seeking
- easily angered
Love it keeps no record of wrongs, in fact, Love never fails…. Love never fails a spouse, a child, a parent, a friend, etc. The next thought I had was, I wake up everyday with love for myself, how much of my own love am I keeping? What am I doing to dishonor myself, my goals, my relationships, my life? WOW So if everyone is to love everyone the same, then what differentiates love for a spouse?
The differentiating factor can be when you feel the love, the energy is high between the two, the term IN-LOVE, can’t eat, can’t sleep, think about you all day long, can’t wait to talk to you later, feeling. The difference is in the FEELING and in the way we express our feeling of love.
Another differentiating factor for a spouse and child is in your priorities. If you’re like a lot of people, you’ll put them at the top of the priority list, you’ll make sure that their needs are taken care of before the needs of anybody else. As I started reflecting over my life, I realized that I used to believe that love was love, and then , at the point where I started building relationships and dating, was when I became conditioned by the world to believe that love was different based on who you are referring to.
To recap, Love is Love, there is only one kind of Love, the difference between a friend verses a spouse or child is 1 in the feeling and expression of Love and 2 in the priority based on where you place them on your agenda or daily schedule. Imagine what life would be like, what the world would be like if we all loved each other the same.
As written in 1 Corinthians 13:13, And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity (love); and Matthew 5:44 But I say to you, “Love your enemies…” Now I ask you to reflect on :How much of Gods Love do you keep everyday? How much of your own love do you keep everyday? How much Love from others do you keep everyday? How Much Love Do You Give Out Everyday?
If you find yourself only keeping some of the Love given to you, reflect and ask yourself why do you not take all of the love given to you each day. If you find yourself holding back love from others, ask yourself why? what’s the purpose? If God said to love everybody the same, why am I not doing so?
Until next time: Be Kind, Speak Life and Love 100%
-Monica