What a beautiful day!! I had the privilege of taking today off work and getting away for an overnight retreat on a lake about an hour north of home. The sun shone, the sky was blue, the water lapped with perfect cool chill, and boats and jet skis sped by at a safe distance. I sat on the pier with Marie, both of us dipping our feet (well, I dipped, she splashed) in the lake water and taking in the sights and sounds of our retreat weekend.
While I sat, I thought about love. I pulled my Bible from my pink striped bag next to me to see what was next in the line of love learning. It was this sentence: Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
I thought back to my week of stress. At one point, I was so overwhelmed at work that I thought surely a stroke or heart attack hid in the very near future. I couldn’t breathe and the pressure of all that remained to be done seemed too much to grasp.
Love always protects. Well, it may not have anything to do with loving others, but certainly this weekend was protecting my health and sanity. I thought back to that day early on when I realized that I don’t love myself very well – that I need to work on loving myself before I can successfully love others. Perhaps this weekend is all about that love in action for myself. I needed to get away. I needed to have a day when I only had to check my voicemail or email if I wanted to. When the people who came to my office to see me would have to accept that I wasn’t there. Not this day. This day is for me.
I wrote in my journal, “It’s about You and me this weekend. I’m protecting myself by being here – away from what wears me down. I’m protecting our love by making time to rejuvenate it.
I think God appreciates it when we do that. When we protect our time with Him. When we realize the priority that this love is and we make time to focus on it and enhance it. After all, God’s love for me makes Him always protect me. Why wouldn’t it work the other way around???
Always trusts. Weekends away always make me think of the husband I don’t have yet. Especially today as I sat on the pier and watched couples stroll hand in hand down the sidewalk – or unload their car for a weekend getaway – or speed by in a boat – or take a swim off the pier. I found myself digging around in my Bible for some of those promises I’ve marked as assurances from God that love will eventually make its way to me.
Do you trust me? I could hear it as sure as I could hear the soft waves hitting the bottom of the pier. Good question, God. Do I trust You? Do I trust this love to do everything You’ve said it will do? I want to say yes, but I’m scared that my heart doesn’t really believe the yes. Love always trusts, though. Love always trusts God to take care of me – because He always has, you know.
I couldn’t even move on. It was enough. But I know this weekend – and whatever it holds in store – is going to be the weekend of learning about this whole sentence.
While I sat, I thought about love. I pulled my Bible from my pink striped bag next to me to see what was next in the line of love learning. It was this sentence: Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
I thought back to my week of stress. At one point, I was so overwhelmed at work that I thought surely a stroke or heart attack hid in the very near future. I couldn’t breathe and the pressure of all that remained to be done seemed too much to grasp.
Love always protects. Well, it may not have anything to do with loving others, but certainly this weekend was protecting my health and sanity. I thought back to that day early on when I realized that I don’t love myself very well – that I need to work on loving myself before I can successfully love others. Perhaps this weekend is all about that love in action for myself. I needed to get away. I needed to have a day when I only had to check my voicemail or email if I wanted to. When the people who came to my office to see me would have to accept that I wasn’t there. Not this day. This day is for me.
I wrote in my journal, “It’s about You and me this weekend. I’m protecting myself by being here – away from what wears me down. I’m protecting our love by making time to rejuvenate it.
I think God appreciates it when we do that. When we protect our time with Him. When we realize the priority that this love is and we make time to focus on it and enhance it. After all, God’s love for me makes Him always protect me. Why wouldn’t it work the other way around???
Always trusts. Weekends away always make me think of the husband I don’t have yet. Especially today as I sat on the pier and watched couples stroll hand in hand down the sidewalk – or unload their car for a weekend getaway – or speed by in a boat – or take a swim off the pier. I found myself digging around in my Bible for some of those promises I’ve marked as assurances from God that love will eventually make its way to me.
Do you trust me? I could hear it as sure as I could hear the soft waves hitting the bottom of the pier. Good question, God. Do I trust You? Do I trust this love to do everything You’ve said it will do? I want to say yes, but I’m scared that my heart doesn’t really believe the yes. Love always trusts, though. Love always trusts God to take care of me – because He always has, you know.
I couldn’t even move on. It was enough. But I know this weekend – and whatever it holds in store – is going to be the weekend of learning about this whole sentence.
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