Learning about Love...

I know I've been MIA for a while. That would be due to the lack of time and having a kind of writer's block, though I don't know how that could be since I don't write much! Anyways, I've been thinking a lot about love. But not love in the Hollywood-ized, lovey-dovey, twisted up version. I mean real, to-the-core, unconditional and yet unfathomable love...that we can't fully even grasp but can definitely experience with the presence of God in our lives and hearts and the people He uses in our lives. And it isn't something that just "happens"...love is something that I am experiencing in a whole new way, a way that goes beyond hugs and cuddles, and even beyond that of my daughter...who God is using in my life to show me how to love unconditionally...and that is the kind of love that comes with having your very own child. This love is one that teaches as it grows, and it disciplines you yourself as you either choose or don't choose to base every action from it. I see how all-encompassing it is, within the realm of family. When one person is hurting, the rest are affected. And as Jesus says, if one member of the body is hurt and can't function right, the other members are affected, and it is up to them to then step in to reach out to the one in need. This is how it should be, this is how it is meant to be, within family (and of course with anyone who is in need-which I guess is pretty much everyone since we all need love) . I have seen how much I HAVEN'T done things in love towards another person. And since having my daughter my eyes have been opened a whole lot more, and I praise God for it.

Motherhood is indescribable, and I know I tend to use that word a lot, probably because when you find something indescribable....there are no other words to decribe it besides....INDESCRIBABLE! But it's a potent combination of care mixed with love mixed with compassion mixed with empathy, which can all be placed under the essence of love itself, though each has different times when they are individually exposed and exercised. Love is what grows us, and grows our children, and that is why it is so important to always act towards them in love, and that doesn't always mean "lovey -dovey" happy times, it also means firmness and times of disciplining. But see, that's the beauty of love, it is so beautifully ironic, contrasted in such a way that it makes it's cause stronger, because in the those times of firmness and disciplining and steering someone in the right direction even against their own will...the ending result is a stronger closeness and love that is developed in themselves, whether or not they realize it at the time. It teaches, it shares, it supports, it encourages, it comforts. Yet it also admonishes, disciplines, cautions, and is always completely and sometimes painfully honest. But with it all, love is made stronger, and the more it is used and practiced, the more beautiful and incredible and deep a relationship will be.