Monday, April 22, 2013

Carry On, Warrior

"Carry On, Warrior" by Glennon Doyle Melton

I stumbled upon the authors blog through another blog that I follow. Glennon is just another ordinary mom who started a blog and then it went big and a book came out of it. Glennon has such a heart of love for others. She sees or hears about a need and does something about it. She is a recovering drug addict, alcoholic and bulimic. She has been through the ringer but chooses life and love. She is honest and she is refreshing. The book is about this journey, about this beautiful, brutal-brutiful life. "Life is hard-not because we're doing it wrong, just because it's hard." I love admitting that, it's hard for all of us, all of us in different way but still hard for all of us. "People who need help sometimes look a lot like people who don't need help." No one has it all together and some just hide it better than others. "We talked about how loving one person hard and long and well is the hardest thing on earth to do." It truly is. So much gets in the way, namely selfishness. Loving others well takes a whole lot of doing and a whole lot of serving. "What else is family if not a commitment to keep showing up?" "Good friends become each others keepers. I hold your story in my mind. I carry it for you. I'm a record of your life. I know what you will do next because I know what you've done in the past." When you are blessed enough to find this kind of friend, hold on for dear life, they don't come around twice. "If you run away from the crucifixion, you just might miss the resurrection. We have to go through the hard to get to the good, that is what helps us recognize the good for what it is. The beauty is in both the crucifixion and the resurrection. "Because love is not something for which to search or wait or hope or dream. It's simply something to do." Start doing and there you will find love. "Why is it that the second a mother admits that it's hard, people feel the need to suggest that maybe she's not doing it right? Maybe the fact that it's so hard means she IS doing it right, in her own way, and she happens to be honest." There is nothing wrong in admitting motherhood or this life is hard, it is, but we must give it our best and keep going. "That heartache is called compassion, and it is God's signal to you to do something." Don't ignore it, you'll regret it but you will never regret doing something in love, never. "I'm going to quit chasing happiness long enough to notice it smiling right at me." Sometimes we miss it, we miss what blessings we have right in front of us because we are so focused on something else. "I learned that all things pass; that life is hard to endure but not impossible. I discovered that after the enduring, if you choose not to run away, there are prizes. Those prizes are wisdom and dignity." This is a great book of encouragement. A book full of honesty and love. A book that lets you know you are not alone, life is hard but it is also so beautiful and we can do this. We can do this together and most importantly, with God.

Friday, April 12, 2013

Love Does

"Love Does" by Bob Goff

I was given this book by a friend. It is such an easy read, each chapter a little book in of itself. It is a book that makes you want to go and conquer the world, change it for the better. Bob is just an ordinary man, although extraordinary in so many ways. He is full of adventure and he believes that love is an action, it does. If he wants something he goes for it, doesn't take no for an answer and doesn't always need a plan. This is what the book is about, enjoying this life for all that it has to offer. "That's because love is never stationary. In the end, love doesn't just keep thinking about it or keep planning for it. Simply put: love does." What would this world be like if all of us believed and lived this out? Instead of thinking of doing something for someone we actually do it. I know I've thought many times, I should do this or that but don't. It could revolutionize this world if we could just do a little more. "I learned that faith isn't about knowing all of the right stuff or obeying a list of rules. It's something more, something more costly because it involves being present and making a sacrifice." Love is hard and it is costly but the rewards are great. " But the kind of love that God created and demonstrated is a costly one because it involves sacrifice and presence." "Things that go wrong can shape us or scar us." It's really our choice. And I think that it's even ok if they do scar us but what will we do with that scar? Will we choose to show that scar or hide it? Use it for good or let it define us? "But I've always wondered if, when we want to do something that we know is right and good, God places that desire deep in our hearts because He wants it for us and it honors Him." "That's what love does-it pursues blindly, unflinchingly, and without end. When you go after something you love, you'll do anything it takes to get it, even if it costs everything." And that is exactly what God does for us. It cost Him everything, His very life. "You know what it is about someone that makes them a friend? A friend doesn't just say things; a friend does." That might just be my favorite sentence of all time. "I think every day God sends us an invitation to live and sometimes we forget to show up or get head-faked into thinking we haven't really been invited." He has invited us all. I am constantly having to remind myself to show up, I'm good enough, He invited me, I don't have to bring a thing, just show up. "He hopes we'll start to see ourselves as His beloved rather than think of all of the reasons that we aren't." Why is it so easy to think of all the reasons we can't be loved than just rest in the fact that we ARE loved? "But know this: when Jesus invites us on an adventure, He shapes who we become with what happens along the way." Are we willing to go on that adventure that He has just for us? "God wants us to get some skin in the game and to help make a tangible difference." "Instead, he leaked what he loved. He was leaking Jesus. And pretty soon the puddle he made swallowed us all by the lake it formed." I want to leak Jesus so much that others can't help but step in the puddle I'm making. The book challenged me to make love more of an action word. Love Does.