March 5 WE MAKE LOVING PEOPLE A LOT MORE COMPLICATED THAN JESUS DID.

Affirmation: I am not less for making mistakes; I am more, because I am learning.

This is so true…Doulgas and I are learning French and it is when we make a mistake and learn why it was wrong and how to say it, or write it correctly that we are really learning.

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Ponder: As you memorize Psalm 25:5-6, think about the prayer of David in Psalm 25. Go to Psalm 25 and read all 22 verses as you ponder this passage. What strikes you about God? About yourself?

”Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. Remember, Lord, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old.“ ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭25‬:‭5‬-‭6

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Wholehearted Guidepost from Brené Brown

Live Wholeheartedly.

What are your norms for your life? Think about it and give yourself some options.

For today you may use the ones I adopted from Brene’ Brown.

Be Courageous. 

Be Compassionate.

Be Connected.

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Reading for Today

Walk in Grace. Live in Love. by Bob Goff

March 5

WE MAKE LOVING PEOPLE A LOT MORE COMPLICATED THAN JESUS DID. 

Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. 

1 JOHN 3:18 

Have you ever had a friend or relative who "loves you so much" they can't have a single conversation without rehashing all the ways they think you're wrong? Or have you been told you're "loved so much" that you can't come around anymore? Or have you been denied something you really wanted and needed because you're "loved so much"? So often someone tells us they're doing it for our good when it feels like it's for their good. 

For a lot of people, love looks a lot like telling us we're cut off until we fall in line. Some people call it "tough love," but I don't think Jesus had this phrase in His vocabulary. 

We make loving people a lot more complicated than Jesus did. Jesus thought love meant a lot of things. It meant eating meals in people's homes, even when they were the kind of people who had been cut off by religious communities. It was touching the untouchable. It looked like making time for the people others passed by. Jesus wasn't scared away by those who had a reputation for being scandalous or unclean, because He saw through the labels that had been slapped on them and He believed in who they might become. 

We'll miss the opportunity to see people grow if we won't meet them with love where they are. Sometimes it appears it's more important for us to be "right" than to be Jesus. No one has ever been argued into a change of heart. No one's ever been coerced into becoming more like Jesus. If you're hoping to spread the love ofJesus to those you think are wrong, try loving people like Jesus. 
Next time you feel like you "love someone so much" that you want to give them a piece of your mind, try giving them a glass of strawberry juice instead. Love isn't as complicated as we make it. Just love people. Don't add any qualifiers. 

What can you do this week to love someone with actions rather than words?