Tracy's Blog

The Collect from Church this morning stood out to me because of the connection between the Holy Spirit and love. "O Lord, you have taught us that without love whatever we do is worth nothing: Send your Holy Spirit and pour into our hearts your greatest gift, which is love, the true bond of peace and of all virtue, without which whoever lives is accounted dead before you.  Grant this for the sake of your only Son Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen."

Today's blog may sound like a repeat of what I have already said about God's love....but I need it.  I need to keep reminding myself of what is true so that I can believe it and live it! So here are my thoughts for today.... If anger isn't to be the power source in  my life but love is, then maybe I need to make a more concrete practice (or habit) of making sure that I am "fueling up" on God's love.  The picture that immediately comes to my mind is the Red River Co-op Gas Station just down the street and around the corner from our house.  How many times a week do I fill up my car there?  Usually once or maybe twice.  That's all I need for the driving I'm doing. But when it comes living real life - the challenging situations, the repetitive demands, the many opportunities to be gentle and patient (and not angry and irritable), and the unmet expectations - I think I need to fill up on God's love a bit more than once or twice a week!...

The current theme of this blog is to "Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us ..." from 1 John 3:1.  The rest of that verse says, "that we should be called children of God!  And that is what we are!" (1 John 3:1b).  Mandatory to a discussion of God's love for us is the relationship we have with God as His children.  Although the Lord is the King of Kings and we are His subjects and He is the Lord of Lords and we are His servants, our relationship with Him is also very close and intimate.  We are His children.  Cherished.  Loved.  Delighted in.  Cared for. Now when we get into a discussion of God as Father, many honest questions and genuine obstacles can come up due to our own parents' weaknesses and sins.  So although it may be a hard, I encourage you to give God a chance to show you His wonderful love for you, His child. Two things in particular come to mind: 1) God your Father can be trusted to provide ...