How can I love others 100% right now from the confines of my home?

 Yesterday as I nursed Everett in the stillness of his room, rocking back and forth, I soaked in this situation that we, practically everyone in the world, finds ourselves in.

And I refused to give into despair.

I know as a child of God, empowered by the Holy Spirit, that I can move in the opposite spirit as the world...that I can experience AND manifest freedom, even in the cruelest of times.

Instead of fear...deep heartfelt love
instead of greed...lavish generosity
instead of selfishness....service to others
instead of anxiety...lifegiving peace
instead of despair...amazing HOPE

So I pondered...how can I love people best in this time? From the confines of my home as we practice social distancing.

I thought of the 5 love languages...
- Quality time
- Acts of Service
- Gifts
- Physical Touch
- Words of Affirmation

For the purposes of this article, I am talking about how to love people that are outside of my immediate little family. Clearly I can, and will, extend all 5 love languages to my husband and two children.

But for everyone else?
Physical touch is out of the question (obviously)
Quality time in person is also out
Acts of service and gifts can be practiced somewhat from a distance

BUT....words of affirmation I can practice 100%!!!!
At every turn I can encourage someone...
offer life-giving words that heal and bind.

Friends, may our families come together to write cards, send texts, affirm one another verbally!

Think of it as a way to spread a love revolution, right from the confines of your home.

The apostle Paul wrote many letters while in prison. He was undoubtedly confined, unable to venture out even if he wanted to. And do you see? His letters, inspired by the Holy Spirit, brought great healing and vision and life to us...ultimately God's love letter to us.

While we won't be writing anything to be canonized, we can, however be used by the Holy Spirit to...

lift someone's dark day,
remind them who they are by sharing what you love about them
offer a healing balm of peace through the impartation of scripture,
reminisce over life-giving memories that evoke laughter and warmth
recall dark days that God brought us through faithfully that left us living more brilliantly than we did before

Oh dear one...there are a million ways you can bring life through words of affirmation!

If writing cards is too time consuming, sit down and go through your contacts texting people like crazy!

There is no one right way to do this, but it is RIGHT TO DO THIS

Let us 100% love through words of affirmation today,
because we can.
because we are all connected, and we cannot let the enemy convince us that we are alone or isolated or dealing with this on our own.

We are a body, a unit, a team, a family.

And in this family LOVE WILL WIN.
And we will LOVE IN ORDER TO WIN.
May we allow the Holy Spirit to fill us with his love, and then we will get to work:)

Lastly, my aunt texted me this morning (so loving) and offered this poem a pastor wrote, which I felt was so fitting...

_________________________________
Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.

"In the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body" - I Corinthians 12:13

Our social distancing is an illusion.
We are one.
There is no distance.
No gap.
Isolated in your apartment, you belong.

You breath and it fills my lungs.
You weep and my heart is broken.
We are one body in many places.

In this time of separation we open our hearts,
we allow ourselves to flow out from our bodies,
in Spirit to one another,
to the strangers.
who are part of us.

Like the Italians singing from their balconies with neighbors,
we are all notes of the same song.

Love flows where germs cannot.
Meditate on our amazing unity.
Extend your spirit to include all it includes:
the whole world.

Breathe in this breath (so threatened!),
a gift.
Breathe out this breath (so released!),
a gift.
Let compassion for all beings flow with it,
in and out, refreshing your whole body,
the Body of Christ,
the whole human family,
the whole Creation.
Let love be our body.

Let your love take flesh.
Make calls, write letters.
And when you come back out,
don't stop being one another's body.
It's your life.
____________________

Isn't that breathtaking. Oh friends...we are one body. One family. Let us love, and let us love now.

Happy Tuesday, happy St. Patricks day!