Love, Love, Love

Originally, I was going to retype my notes from church this morning and post them. The message today was on loving one another, and it was very good, don't get me wrong, but then tonight, my best friend and I went and saw the movie "Crazy, Stupid Love" and it really got me thinking. So often as Christians, the Bible, and parents, and pastors are constantly telling us that we are supposed to "love one another", but in order to know how to love, one must know love, and something that helps us know love is knowing what love is not.

The way I see it, there are two views on love: there is the world's view and then there is God's view. God's view came first, after all, He came first. He loved Adam when He created him, and there, in the very beginning was the most perfect, true kind of love, the love of God. Now, over time, as the world progressed and culture progressed, love slowly became twisted into this warped, corrupted view of love which society has today.

The world's view on love is everywhere. Turn on the TV and you'll see The Bachelor, where love is just waiting in a long line of women, who are just there as prizes to be won, played with for a short period of time and discarded. A show where the questions asked are shallow, but good enough to keep audiences interested. Go to a bookstore and pick up the Twilight series, where love is immortal, mysterious, and a little bit on the dangerous side. Go see the latest romantic comedy (Crazy, Stupid Love perhaps?) where love is simply complimenting strings of women only in order to get them into bed; where sex is a common activity between strangers, rather than something cherished between husband and wife.

In C.S. Lewis' book "The Four Loves" (which I still haven't read all of, but plan on finishing at some point in my life), Lewis discusses in each section one of four loves: Affection, Agape, Eros, and Friendship. True love in the marital sense includes all four of these loves, and yet the world has watered down love into Eros (or sexual) love only. To the world, the only purpose of relationships is sex, even some Christians who believe sex is only for marriage, have given into the world's view of love and try to see how far they can go without going "too far".

But love is not about sex at all. Yes, I said it; love if far more than the physical. What is love, then? Well I surely do not claim to know all there is to know about that, but I do know what God says in His Word to be true.

"...God is love." {1 John 4:8}

"And this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome." {1 John 5:3} 

"Let us love one another, for love is from God..." {1 John 4:7}

"...love covers a multitude of sins." {1 Peter 4:8}

"For God gave us a spirit...of love." {2 Timothy 1 :7}

God is love, and God's love is full of goodness and purity. God's kind of love is unending, undeserving, and unconditional. God loves like no man or woman could ever love, and yet, He calls us to love like Him, because His love is perfect. God calls women to love their husbands, and husbands to love their wives. He calls parents to love their children, and children to love and respect their parents. He calls the rich to love the poor, and the poor to love the rich. He calls us not only to love each and every person, but to look on and love each and every person as He sees them and as He loves them.

"Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth." {1 John 3:18}

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another." {John 13:34}

Earlier, I mentioned learning what love is by learning what love is not. The best place I have found to see this is in the chapter of love: 1 Corinthians 13.

"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."
{1 Corinthians 13:4-7}

Now re-read those few verses. Instead of saying "love" say your own name. Do you feel like a liar? Convicting, isn't it?

Friday Photos

This time next week, I will be on my way to Jackson, Mississippi, heading to college. I can't believe it's almost here. It seems like I have been talking about it forever and to know it's almost here is exciting...and a little terrifying. But I truly am eagerly looking forward to see God's plan for my life unfold before my eyes.
Here are some more of my picnik edits...

P.S. If you want a picture done, you can contact me via facebook or email { taylor_ellen13@hotmail.com } and send me a picture and words you want on it!



{Goodbyes}

Peter Pan once said, "Never say goodbye. Because goodbye means going away, and going away means forgetting." But sometimes in life, goodbyes are necessary. For me, right now is one of those times.

I had to say my first goodbye today. Grace, who has been one of my best friends since birth, is leaving early Thursday morning for Asbury University; and her, and another one of our best friends, Ashlee, all had dinner together for one last hurrah before the first of us leaves. It doesn't really feel real yet, that I won't be talking to her nearly everyday, and that we won't see each other again until Thanksgiving break.

I suppose I'm realizing now, that I am growing up, and that Peter Pan can't possibly truly exist. Growing up is an inevitable fact of life, and everyone must go through it eventually. Something that I am so thankful for; something that makes growing up a little easier, and life a little more fun, is having friends with whom to share these events and this growing up.

God has been so good in blessing me with not one, but three of these incredible people I call best friends. There is something very comforting about having these people whom I know so well, and who often times, know me better than I know myself. They are people who have the best shoulders to cry on, if you feel like crying. They give the best advice when you ask for it, or even when you don't want to hear it. They let you know when you're starting to go the wrong way or do the wrong thing. They show you love when others you love don't seem to love you back. They have the best laughs, because, most of the time, they laugh with you.

Though frienships may change throughout the years, they are the relationships that endure change. No matter how far away, no matter how busy individuals are; no matter what you fight about or laugh about, friendships are the things that always provide you with good memories and laughter, or even comfort and security. Though I am eagerly looking forward to the opportunity of making new friends at college in just 11 short days, the friendships I have with these three girls now are some that I know will always be there for me, no matter where God leads us.

So although it may be goodbye for now, it will never be goodbye for good. Goobyes may mean going away, but for me, they will never mean forgetting.    



{Monday Music}

Happy Monday!
This morning I got to babysit two precious little boys, one was three and the other was four, and they were so cute and funny. I love little kids so much, probably because I still am one. They are such a beautiful picture of God's love for us and how He looks upon us as His children. This afternoon I get to go to ballet class, two ballet classes actually, and I could not be looking forward to it more, especially since it has been two weeks since I've danced. I'm continuing to take ballet and contemporary classes at my studio here in LaGrange for the next two weeks until I leave for Belhaven on the 19th. It will definitely be nice to have these last two weeks with the beautiful girls I've danced with all these years. Here's some music for your Monday, just a few songs I've been listening to a lot lately. Enjoy!

Song starts at 3:12



Friday Photos & Life Update

Well, I haven't done a post of my picnik edits lately, and I have done a bunch recently so at the end of this I'll put some on here. I feel so old to actually be able to say that I'm leaving for college in two weeks. COLLEGE. Man, I'm old. It's such a cliche, but it really does feel like yesterday that I was seven years old, and all of a sudden I am eighteen and off to college. Don't get me wrong, I really am so excited to see what all God has planned for me (and I know He has a lot planned for me, check out Jeremiah 29:11!) and it will be so rewarding and incredible just to be able to watch His will for my life start to unfold. I am also looking forward to making a lot of new friends. I adore my friends I have now, but I have been friends with the same girls for the past eighteen years, so it will be really new and interesting to be able to become close friends with a new group of people (while keeping the old, amazing ones, of course). One thing I am most excited about, though, is getting to dance with new girls, and learn from new teachers, and work with new choreographers. I feel like this will be a really fun step closer to my future as a dancer, and I cannot wait to get started with it! One thing I am a little nervous about is academics, and just adjusting to real school. I have been homeschooled since kindergarten, and so this will be a HUGE adjustment to go from only me at home, really teaching myself for the most part, to going to a campus with others students, with an actual teacher teaching me and assigning me homework that I have to get done by a certain date. It's all so different than what I have become used to over the years, but I have faith that after a while it will become the new "normal" for me. There's a little life update from me. I move into my dorm in exactly two weeks from tomorrow, which will be August 20th. I can't wait!

Here are the picnik photos I promised...
P.S. If you want a picture done, you can contact me via facebook or email { taylor_ellen13@hotmail.com } and send me a picture and words you want on it!

One of my favorite verses...and this picture is such a great reminder

for me that everything, especially my dancing, is to bring God glory,

not myself.

Frank Sinatra song + ballet = the perfect mix

I'm definitely feeling the truth of this statement right now in my life!



Your Will Be Done

You know the phrase, "When life gives you lemons..." The thing is, however, that it's not life that gives the lemons, but God, and God sometimes like to throw us a curve ball.

As humans, we like to be able to control the things around us (one reason why a lot of marriages fail, I believe, but that's another blog post for another time), but you see, God likes to have control even more than we do, but the thing is, that He is all powerful, so unlike when we are in control, when He controls things, it works. But we don't like to give Him control, and we don't like to be without a plan, feeling helpless. So what we do is we like to plan every little detail out, leaving no room for His will at all.

Jeremiah 29:11 says, "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

He has a plan for you. No matter how old you are, no matter where you are in life, He has a perfect plan. He has every detail of your life planned out perfectly, it's when we take control ourselves that things start to go wrong. When we take control bad things happen, messes are made, people are broken. But there's something great...God likes to take our messes, our bad situations, and our brokenness and turn them into something beautiful. Yes, that's right, I said beautiful.

Take Mary for example. There she is, minding her own business when one day, out of the blue, an angel appears to her, telling her that she's with child, and that the child she's carrying is going to be the long awaited Savior and Messiah that her people have been expecting for hundreds of years. But that wasn't in her plans! Her plan was to marry Joseph, the carpenter, and have a few children down the road maybe once she got out of her teens, and live a nice life with him. But God threw her a curve ball...He gave her some lemons. She must have initially thought that her world was coming to an end. What were her parents going to say about this baby? Joseph would surely break off the engagement! But God had even that taken care of, and what beautiful things came out of her confusing, seemingly hopeless situation!

Think about Abraham. Here he is, over one hundred years old at this point, God had been faithful in providing him and Sarah, even in their old age, with the promised son, Isaac. Isaac was to be the beginning of generations of offspring for Abraham, and then, all of a sudden, God tells Abraham to sacrifice this promised son. Abraham must have been nearly out of his mind! I can imagine Him after God told him this, "Sacrifice?! You mean...KILL my son? The one YOU promised and provided for me? You have GOT to be kidding, God." But God was not kidding, He was dead serious (no pun intended...well, maybe a little was intended), and He wanted to see how Abraham would respond. God threw Abraham some lemons.

What about Ruth? Here she is, recently married with no children, and then all of a sudden, her husband, along with her brother-in-law and father-in-law are dead. The only family she has is her sister-in-law, Orpah, and her mother-in-law, Naomi. What on earth is she supposed to do? She has nowhere to go, no one to turn to. God tells her to remain with Naomi and He provided everything for the two women, and He had a plan all the way to the end, even in bringing Ruth to Boaz.

So really, it isn't about the lemons  or why they've been thrown. It's about what you do with them. "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." Making lemonade means to surrender yourself and your plans to the Lord and to learn to have complete and total faith in Him, the one who threw the lemons. No matter what things are happening in your life, know that God has a perfect plan for you and whatever the situation is. He can make something beautiful out of anything.

"Going a little farther, He fell with his face to the ground and prayed, 'My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will.' "
{Matthew 26:39}