No More Striving

I am so thankful for my husband. There are many reasons for my gratitude, but for starters, he makes the coffee every morning! I am not a morning person but I am a coffee person. Brew it and I will come! This morning as the aroma of the coffee was luring me awake, a scripture came to my mind.  I want to share it with you. 

"Watch, stand fast in the faith, 

be brave, be strong. 

Let all that you do be done with love.”

1 Corinthians 16:13-14 (NKJV)

It amazes me that when I read the Word, the Word reads me. This is relationship. Today, I just want to walk through this verse together and share what it means to me. 

First He says, “Watch and Stand.” I started thinking that our eyes and feet really play a huge part in getting us anywhere we go. To watch, means to live in truth. With our eyes wide open. Clearly seeing ourselves and others around us. To stand, is saying to me, stay on your feet, planted firmly in faith. Open eyes make firm feet.  

Then He says, “Be Brave, Be Strong.” He’s not saying for me to act brave, act strong. There is a big difference in acting and being. I am confident that we can not “fake it till we make it.” Authenticity and truth are two of the main ingredients necessary to move from acting brave and strong into being brave and strong. We don’t fake belonging. We don’t fake family. We Belong. We are Family. No faking required! The key to being brave and being strong is in the being. Every time I feel afraid and weak, I remind myself whose I am. In my weakness His strength is made perfect. In His love all fear is gone. There are many days of reminding myself and changing how I think. To breathe and just be.

Finally, He says, “Let all that you do be done with Love.” Letting something happen and making something happen are two different things. I, personally, enjoyed letting my kids clean their rooms…. didn’t work like that….I had to make them. Just like I have to make myself stop going to Katiebug’s, for snow cones, every week and make myself go to the gym instead. When I let something happen, there is no striving or will power needed. Doing everything with Love means God is in it. God is Love. So, this could be paraphrased, "Let all that you do be done with God. God is Love.” It’s amazing to me, that when I involve God there is no more striving. I get to let Him work in my everyday life. 

Love is the key to living with eyes wide open and standing firm in faith. Letting God, who is love, be the filter and source; this is where strength and bravery come from. In this truth, I have the ability to live and love from the center of who I am. Love never fails.