♥ LOVE ♥
It’s a topic we all want to talk about. It is
something we all want to feel. It is a feeling we all want to experience 24/7.
I am a
hopeless romantic. I love talking about LOVE and I love being in love. I am
probably the most hopelessly romantic person you will ever meet. I make it a
point to express my romantic love for my partner several times in a day. I
bought a “love checkbook” where Max can “encash” gifts like a free massage, a
movie of his choice, wake up to a million kisses, etc. I love writing and texting sweet nothings. I especially
love hugs and cuddling. I love watching romantic movies, I always cry when I watch sad movies; and I cry (all the time!) when I listen
to love songs. For me LOVE is the greatest feeling in the world, and I always want to be ♥IN LOVE♥.
Almost
two decades ago, I attended (and spoke at) a love forum organized by the
catholic community I used to belong to, and the speaker talked about what it
was like to fall in love with Christ. When
I first heard about this, it sounded a bit absurd. Yes, I was religious. Yes, I
loved God with all my heart, but to fall to in love with Jesus? The concept was so
surreal, even absurd.
I have always loved God. I went to a catholic school and all throughout my life I have always been religious. There was a time that I went to mass everyday, prayed the novena everyday; and prayed the rosary every night. But the thought of falling in love with Christ was just disconcerting, and strange at the same time.
And then I came across a song from a great band, Jars of Clay (a favorite to this day), called Love Song for a Savior; and it talked about the longing to fall deeply in love with Christ. After listening to the song, I found myself in tears. I cried like I had never cried before. From then on, I have been desiring to love the Lord the same way He loves me - Deeply, Madly, and Passionately.
And then I came across a song from a great band, Jars of Clay (a favorite to this day), called Love Song for a Savior; and it talked about the longing to fall deeply in love with Christ. After listening to the song, I found myself in tears. I cried like I had never cried before. From then on, I have been desiring to love the Lord the same way He loves me - Deeply, Madly, and Passionately.
To be deeply
in love is one of the greatest feelings. We feel it when we look at our loved
ones - our husbands, wives, children, boyfriends, girlfriends. We especially
love feeling romantic love. When we are in love, we feel we can conquer the
world. We feel so inspired that we are willing to do anything and everything
for our loved ones. We feel LOVE during holidays, birthdays and weddings. We all
want to fall in love. But sometimes in our rush to connect with someone, to
truly matter to someone, we neglect who should be our first love.
Christ's love for us is very personal. He knows each of us individually and intimately. His love is unconditional, limitless and has no end. It is even more deep, more real, more passionate than the love we feel for our spouses/partners or our children. He loves us, not because of all the good things we have done, or the things we have accomplished. There is nothing we can go to make Jesus love us any more than He already does, and there is nothing that can cause Him to love us any less. This is why He died for us - FOR YOU. He was willing to pay for all our sins so that we can have life, a life in Christ and eternal salvation in heaven.
This for me is the TRUE Essence of Lent: realizing, internalizing, and truly believing How much Christ loves us. We need to see His dying on the cross as the greatest manifestation of His love for us. He paid a price so high so that we may live in Him and He in us. He is the way, the truth, and the life. Our lives here on Earth will have no meaning unless we realize that the way is Christ. A love so hard to comprehend, so deep to understand. It is also His way of teaching us the greatest form of love is Self - Sacrifice.
Can we love Jesus the same way He loves us, or have we become deadened to the real meaning of His love for us? How do we show our love for our spouses and children? We express our love to them regularly. We spend time with them. We are willing to do anything for them. Are we willing to do the same for Christ? Are we willing to fall in love with Him, the same way He is with us? The kind of LOVE that will give us courage to face the world, and compel us to be faithful to Him no matter how overwhelming our situations are. To desire to have an insatiable spiritual hunger that longs to get to know Him as our Savior.
Do you know that in falling in love with Christ, we not only learn how it is to truly love others; but we learn how it is to truly love ourselves? Once we realize the kind of passionate love Christ has for us, we start seeing ourselves in a different light.
After I became a Mom of 3 at the young age of 19, I was afraid of how people perceived me. I was especially afraid of how the Lord thought of me. Much is expected from a person who has known God all her life, and I felt I let Him down; that I betrayed Him. I have had a relationship with Him since I was 8, and yet I have lived a life of sin. But realizing that in spite of all these and all my other sins and all my mistakes, He still loves me as me! What a wonderful feeling! It is in fact the greatest feeling in the world! To realize and truly understand that I AM LOVED, IN SPITE OF MYSELF. No one has ever loved me as much as Christ loves me and His love for me is deep and it is real.
Are you in love? Is it not the greatest feeling? Who are you in love with, now? Can you love God the same way, if not more? Can you love Him just as deeply, and just as passionately? Do you want to love Him just as much? Maybe because of the hardness and severity of life, we may have forgotten what it is to truly love Him.
Because of my desire to love Him, here are some of the things I try to do regularly; and I am especially reminded of these things during Lent.
A) I remind myself of How much He loves Me
- I remind myself of How much He loves me whenever I am disappointed with myself. I think about Him and the love He has for me. How He has saved me and loved me, in spite of me.
B) I remind myself of His many blessings in times of lack
- I think of How amazing He is, how good He is to me, and that He will provide me with everything I need as long as I trust in His generosity, His goodness, His faithfulness, and most especially His love.
C) I pray to Him whenever I feel overwhelmed and I feel like giving up
- I draw strength from Him, I read His word, and I remind myself that His timing is never early or late; and How He has seen me through everything.
D) I choose to do everything out of my LOVE for Him.
- I try to do my best at work, my best at being a Mom, and a wife - all out of my LOVE for Him; especially during times when my work, my kids, or my husband are "hard to love".
Christ's love for us is very personal. He knows each of us individually and intimately. His love is unconditional, limitless and has no end. It is even more deep, more real, more passionate than the love we feel for our spouses/partners or our children. He loves us, not because of all the good things we have done, or the things we have accomplished. There is nothing we can go to make Jesus love us any more than He already does, and there is nothing that can cause Him to love us any less. This is why He died for us - FOR YOU. He was willing to pay for all our sins so that we can have life, a life in Christ and eternal salvation in heaven.
This for me is the TRUE Essence of Lent: realizing, internalizing, and truly believing How much Christ loves us. We need to see His dying on the cross as the greatest manifestation of His love for us. He paid a price so high so that we may live in Him and He in us. He is the way, the truth, and the life. Our lives here on Earth will have no meaning unless we realize that the way is Christ. A love so hard to comprehend, so deep to understand. It is also His way of teaching us the greatest form of love is Self - Sacrifice.
Can we love Jesus the same way He loves us, or have we become deadened to the real meaning of His love for us? How do we show our love for our spouses and children? We express our love to them regularly. We spend time with them. We are willing to do anything for them. Are we willing to do the same for Christ? Are we willing to fall in love with Him, the same way He is with us? The kind of LOVE that will give us courage to face the world, and compel us to be faithful to Him no matter how overwhelming our situations are. To desire to have an insatiable spiritual hunger that longs to get to know Him as our Savior.
Do you know that in falling in love with Christ, we not only learn how it is to truly love others; but we learn how it is to truly love ourselves? Once we realize the kind of passionate love Christ has for us, we start seeing ourselves in a different light.
After I became a Mom of 3 at the young age of 19, I was afraid of how people perceived me. I was especially afraid of how the Lord thought of me. Much is expected from a person who has known God all her life, and I felt I let Him down; that I betrayed Him. I have had a relationship with Him since I was 8, and yet I have lived a life of sin. But realizing that in spite of all these and all my other sins and all my mistakes, He still loves me as me! What a wonderful feeling! It is in fact the greatest feeling in the world! To realize and truly understand that I AM LOVED, IN SPITE OF MYSELF. No one has ever loved me as much as Christ loves me and His love for me is deep and it is real.
Are you in love? Is it not the greatest feeling? Who are you in love with, now? Can you love God the same way, if not more? Can you love Him just as deeply, and just as passionately? Do you want to love Him just as much? Maybe because of the hardness and severity of life, we may have forgotten what it is to truly love Him.
Because of my desire to love Him, here are some of the things I try to do regularly; and I am especially reminded of these things during Lent.
A) I remind myself of How much He loves Me
- I remind myself of How much He loves me whenever I am disappointed with myself. I think about Him and the love He has for me. How He has saved me and loved me, in spite of me.
B) I remind myself of His many blessings in times of lack
- I think of How amazing He is, how good He is to me, and that He will provide me with everything I need as long as I trust in His generosity, His goodness, His faithfulness, and most especially His love.
C) I pray to Him whenever I feel overwhelmed and I feel like giving up
- I draw strength from Him, I read His word, and I remind myself that His timing is never early or late; and How He has seen me through everything.
D) I choose to do everything out of my LOVE for Him.
- I try to do my best at work, my best at being a Mom, and a wife - all out of my LOVE for Him; especially during times when my work, my kids, or my husband are "hard to love".
"Love Song For A
Savior"
(Jars of Clay)
In open fields of wild
flowers,
she breathes the air and flies away
She thanks her Jesus for the daises and the roses
in no simple language
Someday she'll understand the meaning of it all
He's more than the laughter or the stars in the heavens
As close a heartbeat or a song on her lips
Someday she'll trust Him and learn how to see Him
Someday He'll call her and she will come running
and fall in His arms and the tears will fall down and she'll pray,
"I want to fall in love with You"
Sitting silent wearing Sunday best
The sermon echoes through the walls
A great salvation through it calls to the people
who stare into nowhere, and can't feel the chains on their souls
He's more than the laughter or the stars in the heavens
As close a heartbeat or a song on our lips
Someday we'll trust Him and learn how to see Him
Someday He'll call us and we will come running
and fall in His arms and the tears will fall down and we'll pray,
"I want to fall in love with You"
It seems too easy to call you "Savior",
Not close enough to call you "God"
So as I sit and think of words I can mention
to show my devotion
"I want to fall in love with You"
"my heart beats for You"
she breathes the air and flies away
She thanks her Jesus for the daises and the roses
in no simple language
Someday she'll understand the meaning of it all
He's more than the laughter or the stars in the heavens
As close a heartbeat or a song on her lips
Someday she'll trust Him and learn how to see Him
Someday He'll call her and she will come running
and fall in His arms and the tears will fall down and she'll pray,
"I want to fall in love with You"
Sitting silent wearing Sunday best
The sermon echoes through the walls
A great salvation through it calls to the people
who stare into nowhere, and can't feel the chains on their souls
He's more than the laughter or the stars in the heavens
As close a heartbeat or a song on our lips
Someday we'll trust Him and learn how to see Him
Someday He'll call us and we will come running
and fall in His arms and the tears will fall down and we'll pray,
"I want to fall in love with You"
It seems too easy to call you "Savior",
Not close enough to call you "God"
So as I sit and think of words I can mention
to show my devotion
"I want to fall in love with You"
"my heart beats for You"
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