So I'm reading along in the genealogies of 1 Chronicles, and I run across a name that seems oddly out of place. Normally, when your reading through the sections of "who begat who" and who's brother or father is this, for me anyway (and I know some of you reading this have reached a spiritual plane that I will probably never attain) it is very laborious to get through some of those portions of scripture.

So here is the verse I was reading today... deep stuff...

The kingdom of God is like... How many times did Jesus repeat this theme throughout the time He was teaching and preaching here on earth. His focus was not on the things of this world but on things above.

1 Cor. 15:58 "With all this going for us, my dear, dear friends, stand your ground. And don't hold back. Throw yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for him is a waste of time or effort." (MSG)

As I have been going through the loss of my precious mother, many have been worried about me. I know everyone handles grief differently. I know that it may appear that I have been strong, and I have tried to be there for the family, especially my dad. I cannot imagine the pain of losing a spouse after 53 years of marriage. I may have appeared strong, but I have felt very weak inside. I have felt intense pain in knowing that at least in this life, I cannot simply pick up the phone and call mom. She will never be there at our family Christmas, Thanksgiving and our other family traditions will never be the same. In this life I will never see her again. And that, in this life, hurts very deeply.

Some people are just hard to love. That's a fact. I know I have personally been hard to love on many occasions. We all have not acted with grace when we should have, we all have not been as sensitive to others feelings at times as we could have.

1 Corinthians 16:13-14 gives us the steps to being able to love the way we should. It teaches us the "how to" of loving the way God loves. But first we have to understand a premise: God IS love. Love is not a verb with God. It is not something He does, it is who He is. It is WHAT He is. So every action and every motive comes from love, because it is the nature and fiber of His being. His Word says that He loved us first. He gave His only Son - why? Because it was natural for Him to do.