Love is an incredible thing!  A few days ago, I was thinking about how much I love my wife and daughters!  I was away from them over night and I could not wait to see them, hold them and tell them that I love them!  Just thinking about them, what they mean to me and how they make me feel was so overwhelming that I began to cry, not tears of pain, but tears of joy, appreciation and expectation of seeing them again!  That got me to thinking about love – my love for them and their love for me.  So many times I take it all for granted, but in that moment it was the most important thing on my mind and heart.  And then I got to thinking about how much God loves me.  He loves me so much that He sent His Son Jesus to die for my sins on the cross.  He loves me so much that He allows me moments like the one I just described, moments where I am filled with emotion that words cannot even come close to describing.  He loves me so much that He shared with me those that I could love and they would love me back – how awesome!

I know what love is – because I have been given an example.  Jesus out of His great love for me – laid down His life!  He gave His life, so that I might have life – abundant and everlasting!  His love allows me to know, share and experience love and all that comes with it.  Because God has been so good to me with His love, I want to be good to others with the love that He has given me.  I want to be willing to lay my life down!  I want to lay down my attitude, selfishness and opinions, so that I can embrace others and encourage them in their walk with Christ.  I want to be willing to always give my time, energy and effort to make a difference in someone elses life, so that God who makes it all possible gets all of the glory.