love.

we don't choose to love, we just love. God uses man to reveal to us a picture of what love means. we catch glimpses of it from those around us.

I think the greatest lesson anyone can ever teach you is the demonstration of what love means, of what sacrificial, enduring, and patient love truly is. Love hears the unspoken words, it understands the struggling heart, and continues to believe even when you yourself have given up. Throughout my life God has shown me that love comes in all shapes and sizes. From the newborn baby who utterly puts their trust in you, to the friend who bears her soul and breaks down with you, to the parents who are constantly supporting you even when you thought they disappeared, even to the grandmas and grandpas of the church family who take you in no questions asked. All these things which make you glow inside, all these things which were done without a second thought, all these things acted out of love.

Yesterday I was able to spend some time alone. I love sitting by the lake, breathing in the fragrant air, hearing the laughter of kids playing around me, the chirping of birds quarreling over a piece of fruit, feeling the slight breeze dancing over your body and weaving through your hair. You look up to see the great expanse of blue sky, you look out to see the shimmering diamond waters, you look down to see the playful green grass waving with the wind. and through all this beauty you let go of yourself. through all this beauty you surrender. you open yourself up and allow yourself to be taken over. where you can hear the unspoken words poking its way into your heart, where you are wrapped in His arms of love. the hardest thing for me is giving up control. of letting you in. i want you to come in. its just hard. but thank you for reminding me that I am a beloved child of yours. Teach me to love as I have been loved. to look beyond the glassy eyes, to hear the unspoken words, to understand where others are coming from. to love not just for the sake of loving, but to love because YOU are love and YOU are in me.

let me overflow.

...love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things...

how beautiful that Paul would sum it up as perfectly and simply as that.