For as long as I can remember I have always wanted the next thing to happen. I got sick of the....... "Just wait" and "don't be in a hurry to grow up." I pretended I was a business woman or played house in my lovely pretend world. As I got older I watched romance movies and oohed and awed over how charming the guy was and how elegant the girl looked. Often times after watching such a movie I would pretend to be like my current heroine whether it was Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday, Anne Hathaway in Princess Diaries, Julie Andrews in Sound of Music, Meghan Follows in Anne of Green Gables, and so many of my other favorite stars.
Lately, I spend a lot of my time trying to hang on to my childhood not wanting to grow up too fast. However, there is one part of life I find myself being impatient for (to quote one of my all time favorite movies) "Love, true love." Yes, as most sixteen year old girls I dream of my prince charming, my hero, my knight in shinning armor, my cowboy, the man that sweeps me off my feet.
Where these are all lovely thoughts and I have heard natural. As a Princess in the Almighty God's Kingdom. I have been given a different set of standards and example of what true love is. God created it, wrote it out, and gave it to me to understand. The least I can do is at least try to learn it and apply it to my daily living.
Love is Patient, patiently wait for God to come and say "Beautiful daughter, this is the man I had you wait for and he has waited for you." I am doing a dance for our church's valentine's day banquet this Saturday and the song I am dancing to is Hide Your Love Away by: Anthem Lights. I love this song because not only is it beautiful, the way the way the lyrics are written is like your true love is asking you to wait for them. One of the lines is "Wait for me, wait for me, one day staring in your eyes, I say I have waited my whole life for this. Hide your love away and wait for me, wait for me." You get the gist. If God is asking me to wait. I will do my honest best to do as he ask and spend my time waiting trying to learn what he wants me to become.
Love is Kind, there are many people in my life I don't feel like being kind to. However, my Father has asked me to love everyone, not just the ones I like. Then he gave me the guidelines for love. I heard a quote the other day that said "You don't have to like them, you have to love them." Like and Love are two different things. If being kind to people and having a better attitude when I wake up in the morning makes life less stressful and fun to live. What makes it so hard to do? (that's a whole other blog post)
Love Does not Envy how easy it is to see other lives, other things and think "My life would be a whole lot better." Have you seen Veggietales Madame Blueberry? It is proof things don't fill the happiness bubble in your soul. On the other hand, it isn't always things that we envy. Sometimes its things like a relationship. I am guilty of that, yet in my devotions lately I have heard God telling me "Why are you jealous of their relationship? Why do you long for the superficial love you see on TV? Why do you dwell on these things when you have the best relationship with me?
Do you have date nights with God? I do. See I have decided just to do my prayer journal on weekdays because it is a way to spend time with God and still get sleep. On the weekend nights however, it is my date nights with God. I try to have an in depth devotion reading his word, talking with him, listening to him. and singing to him. Try it date nights with God are fun!
Love Does not Boast and is not Proud I like atta girls and pats on the back and if I don't get them sometimes I try to go and seek them. More often than I would like to admit it results with me boasting about my accomplishments and whether I realize it or not I get this prideful image of myself in my head that only God can take away and humble down a bit :)
Love is not Rude or Selfish I feel like this can go back to my "More to Love" post about how I can do lots of good things, but if I don't love I am nothing. If I do things with a selfish desire or I am seeking something out of it. I am not truly doing it in a loving manner. Let's change selfish to selfless.
Love is not Easily Angered probably my biggest downfall. My temper gets the best of me more often then not. Little things, big things, things that aren't even my problem. Things get under my skin and Erika's inner Hulk decides to come out. More prayer is needed in this area.
Love Protects protect I really don't know how to put how I understand this in to words. Because I am not totally sure how I understand this. God is still teaching me a lot in this area.
Love Trusts sometimes you have to let go and trust God will take care of things. Trust that the person you love is telling you the truth. Trust those who God tells you to trust even if you are unsure.
Love Hopes hoping for true love, hoping in your dreams, hoping those you love will chose to be saved. There is so much to hope in it makes me smile.
Love Always Perseveres when the going gets tough the tough get going. There are days I don't feel tough there are days I don't want to carry on in the current battle. Yet, only by God's strength can I take one day at a time.
Love Never Fails there is never a time true love won't work. It just may not work in the perfect, little picture you have created in your head.
I don't know everything about love, nor do I want to come across that I do. Far from it I am only beginning to understand. What I do know for sure is that I am not wise enough to know what is right for me in the ways of love. So I am entrusting God with the keys to my heart. He will show me the path to take. He has already given me parents who I can easily talk with these things with and for now. I can be happy with what I am doing in my life. I can stop longing, I can say "I am still young and have all the time in the world for romance." I can say with confidence............ I will wait.
Lately, I spend a lot of my time trying to hang on to my childhood not wanting to grow up too fast. However, there is one part of life I find myself being impatient for (to quote one of my all time favorite movies) "Love, true love." Yes, as most sixteen year old girls I dream of my prince charming, my hero, my knight in shinning armor, my cowboy, the man that sweeps me off my feet.
Love is Patient, patiently wait for God to come and say "Beautiful daughter, this is the man I had you wait for and he has waited for you." I am doing a dance for our church's valentine's day banquet this Saturday and the song I am dancing to is Hide Your Love Away by: Anthem Lights. I love this song because not only is it beautiful, the way the way the lyrics are written is like your true love is asking you to wait for them. One of the lines is "Wait for me, wait for me, one day staring in your eyes, I say I have waited my whole life for this. Hide your love away and wait for me, wait for me." You get the gist. If God is asking me to wait. I will do my honest best to do as he ask and spend my time waiting trying to learn what he wants me to become.
Love is Kind, there are many people in my life I don't feel like being kind to. However, my Father has asked me to love everyone, not just the ones I like. Then he gave me the guidelines for love. I heard a quote the other day that said "You don't have to like them, you have to love them." Like and Love are two different things. If being kind to people and having a better attitude when I wake up in the morning makes life less stressful and fun to live. What makes it so hard to do? (that's a whole other blog post)
Love Does not Envy how easy it is to see other lives, other things and think "My life would be a whole lot better." Have you seen Veggietales Madame Blueberry? It is proof things don't fill the happiness bubble in your soul. On the other hand, it isn't always things that we envy. Sometimes its things like a relationship. I am guilty of that, yet in my devotions lately I have heard God telling me "Why are you jealous of their relationship? Why do you long for the superficial love you see on TV? Why do you dwell on these things when you have the best relationship with me?
Do you have date nights with God? I do. See I have decided just to do my prayer journal on weekdays because it is a way to spend time with God and still get sleep. On the weekend nights however, it is my date nights with God. I try to have an in depth devotion reading his word, talking with him, listening to him. and singing to him. Try it date nights with God are fun!
Love Does not Boast and is not Proud I like atta girls and pats on the back and if I don't get them sometimes I try to go and seek them. More often than I would like to admit it results with me boasting about my accomplishments and whether I realize it or not I get this prideful image of myself in my head that only God can take away and humble down a bit :)
Love is not Rude or Selfish I feel like this can go back to my "More to Love" post about how I can do lots of good things, but if I don't love I am nothing. If I do things with a selfish desire or I am seeking something out of it. I am not truly doing it in a loving manner. Let's change selfish to selfless.
Love is not Easily Angered probably my biggest downfall. My temper gets the best of me more often then not. Little things, big things, things that aren't even my problem. Things get under my skin and Erika's inner Hulk decides to come out. More prayer is needed in this area.
Love Protects protect I really don't know how to put how I understand this in to words. Because I am not totally sure how I understand this. God is still teaching me a lot in this area.
Love Trusts sometimes you have to let go and trust God will take care of things. Trust that the person you love is telling you the truth. Trust those who God tells you to trust even if you are unsure.
Love Hopes hoping for true love, hoping in your dreams, hoping those you love will chose to be saved. There is so much to hope in it makes me smile.
Love Always Perseveres when the going gets tough the tough get going. There are days I don't feel tough there are days I don't want to carry on in the current battle. Yet, only by God's strength can I take one day at a time.
Love Never Fails there is never a time true love won't work. It just may not work in the perfect, little picture you have created in your head.
I don't know everything about love, nor do I want to come across that I do. Far from it I am only beginning to understand. What I do know for sure is that I am not wise enough to know what is right for me in the ways of love. So I am entrusting God with the keys to my heart. He will show me the path to take. He has already given me parents who I can easily talk with these things with and for now. I can be happy with what I am doing in my life. I can stop longing, I can say "I am still young and have all the time in the world for romance." I can say with confidence............ I will wait.
I love the idea of having a date night with God. I also am grateful for your mature view of Biblical love.
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