Love One Another John 13:35

I miss being called Mommy. I'm Mom now to my children and I am in love with being called Mimi by my 18 month old granddaughter and soon by my 2 month old grandsons. But I would be lying if I said I didn't miss being Mommy. When I was Mommy my children thought I was side-splitting hilarious. They thought I was easily the smartest person on the planet and they trusted every thing I told them. Straight up - saying their Mommy was wrong...well them's fighting words. Mommy was an endless source of love and snuggles, kisses for boo boos and the one who never got tired of listening to their stories. Mom still has all those traits but grown married sons with their own families don't need snuggles anymore from mom. Yeah, yeah it would be totally weird if he did! I get it. I hugged my oldest son today after he dropped by to see if we needed anything, what with the snow and all he was going to the store and he wanted check in. I could just hug him for the lon...

I’m a person who questions things. Everything. I love cracking things open and exploring them. Recently I have been thinking a lot about those within our circle of influence. I heard something about 22 years ago that made a significant impact on my life. At a motivational business conference the speaker paraphrased Jim Rohn, saying, "You become like the 5 people you spend the most time with." wow. A lot of information was shared on that weekend but I walked away with just that phrase. It was enough to begin a significant transformation within me. When I examined those 5 people I had to take a hard look. If I had been asked who I thought influenced me I would have picked VERY different people. The reality that the people who influence me are not the people I want, or wish, but are the people I spend time with everyday. Your circle of influence is NOT the people you love most. It's not the people you feel closest to emotionally. It's about time....

"This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:35 I wish this were easier to live out. Truly I do.  The world would be transformed if we loved one another. Even if only the Christians around the world loved one another, the world would be unrecognizable. If only husbands and wives loved one another this way, the world would be changed, if families loved this way. If anyone could learn to love the way God intends us to love, the world would be His Kingdom come and His will would be done on earth as it is in Heaven. It's just way harder than it sounds. I mean we struggle to love the people we really do love. We aren't sure we love our spouses sometimes! Maybe our kids?! Certainly our neighbors are iffy. Strangers? Big Stretch. Enemies? Hard pass. I started this new endeavor because I know, I mean I know as rightly as I know my own name that loving in the way Christ intends for me to love is outside of my skill set. I c...