Love Interlude: He was breath-taking to her.  Moments in his presence often left her limp and longing for more of him.  She day-dreamed him into her life, wished him into her future.  She danced when she thought of him and something on the inside leaped every time.  All she knew was that she wanted him.  He could make her life wonderful, exciting, better than it was. Here’s a thought: “what did she think of before he came?”  Now, all she seemed to think or imagine was this strange kind of love talk.  He made her a little crazy, a little off balance, a little out of control.  Words rattled in her spirit, “I love you. Yes, I believe I do.”

It’s been said that love is a four letter word, yes, a little dirty, a little risky.  In it’s purest form LOVE is God (1 John 4:8).  In the English language, however, it can be a little confusing as we use the word love to describe our favorite movie and our favorite person in the same breath.  All the while meaning two different kinds of love.  In fact, the Greek language has at least 14 different words to exemplify the various forms of love, and English has one.  That is interesting.  Love is interesting.   That’s easy to see as it is the ready topic of every other movie and ready thought of every other single, unmarried individual over the age of 30.  We want love, this captivating all encompassing, us against the world kind of love with another individual. Some of us have spent a life time dreaming of it, hunting for it, being destroyed by misinterpretations of it, devastating others with our confusion about love.  And it’s still an amazing attention getter.  But I was taught that in all my getting to get understanding (PRO 4:7).  And that leads me to Tina Turner.  Remember her song from the 80s, What’s Love Got To Do With It?

It was one of my favorites growing up.  Her big hair, sassy walk and captivating voice had me singing and wondering, “Why is she saying this?”  One of her lyrics always grabbed my attention more than the rest: who needs a heart, when a heart can be broken? “I do“ I used to whisper to myself, ”I need a heart.“  Then, I learned more about her story of  violence in her marriage and I lived a story of my own and today her words make a lot more sense.  That’s where the risk and the dirt comes in – hearts can get broken, BUT I still whisper to myself, ”I need my heart.  Even though she can be broken, I need her.“  To live our best lives, risk will be required, but the cool thing about God is this: He gives us plenty of guidelines to help us avoid a mess again and again, if we simply pay attention (and believe me, I know it’s easier said than done sometimes).

I have learned something though.  People have been mishandled by other four letter words that they have masqueraded as love and people have been mistreated by others who heard the word on love but never finished the book.  In the next post, we’ll talk about these other four letter words and a little secret that makes this whole thing a little easier.

MizJAI…pondering the meaning of real love

I love driving back country roads with hills and curves and changing scenery.  I think it’s the impact of riding through the Asheville Mountains when I was a little girl “lost” on the open highway with my mother and two sisters.  We stopped to touch waterfalls and to daydream out loud.  For my mother the adventure was a requirement, and she birth that same desire on the inside of me.  Now, I look for the changes in life, even the scary ones.

In fact the need for change feels like a quiet rumble in my chest.  It’s a simple desire to create something new & alive, now; to shape something powerful into existence, now; to make impact, now; to live more than I have been living, right now; to captivate that best of me and change the world around me or at least to just change for the better, now.  Besides, the best version of ourselves, serves others far better than the left overs from over-extending, under-living, and ignoring dreams for new air and adventure.

It’s time to live more, right now!  I want to encourage you to take that curve and enjoy what you discover on the other side.  Find something simple, new and different in your world like a Zumba Aerobics Class, Salsa night on Saturdays, Painting in the Park, Photography Lessons, and/or a long beautiful ride that ends in a lakeside lunch.  Remember, adventure doesn’t have a price tag on it.  Many times the less expensive moments hold the more valuable memories.

MizJAI . . . getting ready for a new bend in the road, hoping you join me!

We traveled a-lot when I was growing up and for a season we stayed in Jacksonville, Florida near the water. Every evening my sisters and I would build sand castles, create shared adventures within our mind, and search out clams fully expecting to find pearls on the inside. We seemed to never tire of the searching and the building and the dreaming even though we never found a single pearl out there, and the water or someone’s foot always seemed to destroy what we built or steal our clams out of their sand castle home. One thing remained, the hope never died.

Every clam comes out of the elements: the water, the vegetation, the bumpy ride to the surface & God knows what else it goes through, BUT e–v–e–r–y clam does not have a pearl on the inside. In fact, agitation is required in order for pearls to form and that makes me think of us. We (humans) go through things and sometimes we arrive at places, and then ask ourselves “How did I get here?” It’s simple, one step after another followed by small and large decisions daily bring us to were we are today. And whether or not we believe that we are in complete control our past, know this, we are in complete control of today. Today I can joy. Today I can dream. Today I can start over. Today I can be aware of the agitation of my yesterdays and choose to take the steps to discover the pearls that have formed on the inside of me.

While every clam does not have a pearl, every human does. It’s just a matter of the discovering it. If you have been through anything the elements are there for the beautiful to emerge out of you. My pastor always reminds us to “reset out mind.” He says if “I’ve made it this far, and I have to start over from here, then I know I can make it from this point.”

We are going places. Let’s make the decision to go over and not under, to win in life and not loose heart, to regain focus instead of falling a part, to keep going until the life we want is the life that we live everyday.

Never, never, never give up! Just start over

1. with tears in your eyes, start over
2. with laughter choked up in your chest, start over
3. with the best of your faded dreams in the back of your mind, start over, they will come back to you
4. with the kids at your heels and the impossible as your reality, start over
5. with every painful and not so perfect step, start over.

You are not alone. You are pearl hunting, searching out the beauty on the inside of you that the agitation of your past has created. Just hold on and start over with one determined step at a time. And just for you, do something special today: walk, dance, laugh, paint, dream, write, lay on your back in the grass and watch the stars tonight or the clouds this afternoon, pray, sing, start your new beginning today . . .

MizJAI . . . still searching and building and dreaming and starting over