Skip to main content

Valentine's Schmalentine's


John 15:11-15

The Message (MSG)
11-15 “I have told you these things for a purpose: that my joy might be your joy, and your joy wholly mature. This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you. This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends. You are my friends when you do the things I command you. I’m no longer calling you servants because servants don’t understand what their master is thinking and planning. 
No, I have named you friends because I have let you in on everything I have heard from the Father.


Another beautiful moment the Lord used this week to speak to me, again through Logan, my dear, sweet nephew....

He awoke from his sleep about 10:30 last night, "pluking" as he calls it.  He was sick everywhere!  First of all, this is NOT my strong suit.  My gag reflexes kicked in in a big way!  Ick!  But, my sister and I worked hard to reassure him it was fine and he would be okay and tried desperately to put aside our obvious discomfort.  He would be fine for 20 minutes or so, then start writhing and moaning and then "pluking" again.  :(  About midnight, he was calming down and I offered to sleep in the living room with him as my other nephew ends up coming into my sister's room during the night and would have been upset to not find her.

He agreed, but said he needed to sleep on the big couch because he could stretch out and lay on his offending little belly.  But, he wanted Aunt Vickie close by....so I grabbed what I could to make myself comfortable and sat at his feet and slept there.  As he was drifting off to sleep finally about midnight, I was praying for him, waiting to hear his familiar heavy breathing to ensure he was sleeping and the Lord brought the verse to my head, "greater love hath no man........."  

I cried for that little boy.  I WOULD lay down my life for him.  And his brother.  And his cousins.  It is amazing the love you can have for the people in your life.  Or course, at that moment I wasn't "laying down my life", but I was being asked to lay down my comfort to which there was no question!  It was my honor to lay at his little feet, grab that bucket when he needed it at 1:40 a.m. and hold his hand at 5:25 a.m. when he needed me to.


Valentine Schmalentine!  I don't need a day to remind me how to love or to remind me to remind someone I love them.  I have two amazing little reminders in my life!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Unemployed - Part Two

In my last post I mentioned this would be the "rest of the story". I realized a bit ago that this actually is just the middle of the story as God hasn't shown me the "rest" yet. Again, I'm not going to go through and edit this. Again, I'm just being real, typos and all. Where we left off, I'd left my job and now you understand why more fully. It was my mental health or working for her. I chose health. A few weeks before I left, I'd heard a song by my current favorite band, Unspoken. If you know me well, you'll know that I latch onto one specific band or artist and stick with them on a constant loop of their songs until another band sneaks in. I've been listening to Unspoken on that loop for about six months now. Coincidence? Nah. I worked for her for five months. One month prior the Lord started infiltrating my head with life-giving music. He knew.  One song, Sleep in the Storm, hit me hard a few weeks ago. It is the telling of the story ...
What are you dreaming about?  Wishing for?  Waiting for? Just those questions alone can bring more to mind than your heart was ready to process.  I know it's true for me.  I haven't blogged for three years.  Want to know what one of my dreams is?  Writing!  Ironic, huh? In this past month I've switched some things up with positive results.  I used to wait to spend time with God at the very end of my day and that came with varying results.  Either I'd be so exhausted that I'd only muster enough to open up the Bible app on my phone and settle for just a nugget of God's truths that day.  Sometimes I'd get my Bible opened then be sidetracked by a nephew getting ready for bed or a whiny dog.  Sometimes, I'd forget altogether.  None of this made for a strong me. When the kids started back to school this year, I decided to make a change for myself. Instead of getting up at the same time as always, I set my alarm for 5:00 a.m. al...

Beauty in Changing

This time of year is beautiful in the Midwest. The weather is cooling, drawing us to our hoodies, cozy sweaters and long forgotten jeans. Yards are decorated with cornstalks, pumpkins and fancy scarecrows. On trash days, curbs are lined with bags and bags of dead leaves and other yard waste as home owners ready their home for the coming cold months. And then there are the trees. I've taken a walk the last few nights with Lucas around our neighborhood and enjoyed the changing foliage much more than my twelve year old nephew. I'm a picture person. He's a get it done kind of kid. I stop a LOT to admire scenery. His mind has already completed the walk and is on to his next video game. He is often a block ahead of me before he realizes I stopped to admire a pinecone on the ground or a beautiful leaf on the road. I saw this quote and it resonated with me again:    Isn't that great? Humans resist change. We have readily displayed that ever since Covid-19 disrupted our lives an...