A Word for 2018 {& Beyond}...

I have to admit, I haven't really jumped on the whole "Word for the Year" bandwagon like most bloggers.  Something about settling down on one solitary word - when I know sooo many "words" will flood the next 365 {or however many God sees fit to bless me with} - seems, I don't know... not my cup of tea.

But, you know what?  I've been mulling it over again.  And I think I've settled on a word for my whole life, not just this new year...

It sums it all up, doesn't it?  Love.  I want it to define my life.  I want my very life to speak it - to speak love fluently & real & not just in word, but in deed.  Because I'm here to testify that love is a verb, & not just a word to speak.

So, I've settled on my word, & it's not just for this year.  I know it will take a lifetime. And while I may be loving imperfectly from this side of heaven, I know I can grow my love & strengthen it & make it more beautiful & more like His {for as many days as He gives me} through His perfect strength + my imperfect weakness.  Love is what I'm claiming.  To love my God better & my husband & my family & my neighbors & my enemies & my self.  I'm loving this year & all the years after.

❤

" 'Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?'  Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart & with all your soul & with all your mind.  This is the first & greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.' " -Matthew 22:36-39

"This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ 

laid down His life for us.  And we ought to 

lay down our lives for our brothers." -1 John 3:16

"This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us & sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.  Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us & His love is made complete in us." -1 John 4:10-12

"We love because He first loved us." -1 John 4:19

"Love is patient, love is kind.  It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always perseveres... And now these 3 remain: faith, hope, & love.  But the greatest of these is love." -1 Corinthians 13:4-7; 13

"God is love.  Whoever lives in love 

lives in God, & God in him... Perfect 

love drives out fear." -1 John 4:16; 18

"Let no debt remain outstanding, 

except the continuing debt to 

love one another." -Romans 13:8

"Let us not love with words or tongue

but with actions & in truth." -1 John 3:18

"By this all men will know 

that you are my disciples, if 

you love one another." -John 13:35