Spray it, don't say it!

Nope, that's not a typo. Sure, the typical wording may be "Say it, don't spray it" when it comes to spewing sentences and overactive salivary glands, but when it comes to love... it's completely opposite. Saying it is simply not enough.What we do has to show that we love, and furthermore, that we love because we were first loved by God.

 "Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth" -1 John 3:18 

I don't know about you, but I hear and even speak of love all the time. I love the weather today. I love your shoes. I love my job. I love my iPhone. I love this song. I love this show. I love my new car. I love this restaurant. I love this city. I love this country. I love you. I love him. I love her. I love Jesus. I love everything! That sounds like a whole lot of love--but that's the problem. It's just a sound, like resounding gongs and clashing cymbals. But love requires a lot more than sound, and sometimes no sound at all. We hear about what it means to really love all the time. All the greatest saints and even songs on the radio explain that our lives have to be proof  of love. We can't just talk about it... we have to live it! Even love songs that have nothing to do with God talk about love as an action. I mean, I can tell someone I love them a lot, but would I catch a grenade for them? Or let's get old school, what was it that Meatloaf just wouldn't do for love? Furthermore, what won't WE do for love? Will we not show our love in simple ways, like listening instead of talking all the time, being the first to call just to say hi, sending a card in the mail, thanking someone who never gets thanked, or even in mighty ways: feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, caring for the widowed and orphaned. It's time we stop talking so much about love and start living love.

Today, challenge yourself to show someone that you love them without words. It's tough, but I know you can do it! Now get out there and spray it, don't just say it.

Rejection: God's Protection

 

Rejection: We have all faced it at some point in our life whether we have been rejected, or we have done the rejecting. What is it about rejection that makes us feel so unaccepted, so unloved, or so unwanted? The better question is this: how can we undo the negative connotations we have  about rejection and understand how it is a beautiful part of God's plan? Simply, our minds must be renewed.

In being Catholic, a basic principal of our faith is in fact rejection. We must reject satan and all of his empty promises. We face rejection from the world when we follow Christ closely, and go against the culture to follow our moral beliefs. Even Jesus himself was rejected by those around him who did not want to hear the Truth. Reality is, rejection is inevitable and if you see it in light of what God is capable of, it is quite possible to see rejection as God's great gift of protection.

I know this is true for me. I can still remember thinking years ago that God was punishing me when he took a man that I loved out of my life. I look back now and I can't stop thanking God because if that man had never uttered the words, "I don't love you anymore" I would have settled and married someone that was not a part of God's plan for me. It felt like rejection then...but it was ultimately God's protection of me and my heart. I had prayed to God days before the break up that I wanted his will to be done, whatever would make me a holier woman of God. I told him he had to close the door if my relationship with this man was hindering my relationship with him. And, it hurt. Don't get me wrong. Rejection never feels good. But, I can say with complete certainty today that God was offering me protection and he answered my prayer. Sure, in my mind, he was going to answer my prayer by allowing me to grow holy with that man, but God knew that I could not do that, God knew that I was worthy of his greatest protection...and so are you.

Whatever you are facing in life right now, if there is something or someone you feel rejected by, try to look at it as God's gift of protection. Maybe God is not allowing that person or thing into your life because he wants to care for you. Surely, God has something better in store for you. He wants to bless his faithful in abundance, so don't settle for mediocrity in anything--not a job, not a relationship, not with your Vocational call, not in anything at anytime. You are worth the best that God has in store for you. So, hold out for the best. When you begin to see rejection as God's protection, your view on the world will change drastically and you will feel more accepted, more loved, and more wanted than ever before. And what better person to feel all of that from, than God himself?