love

The Love Passage

February 14, 2023 by Nancy 8 Comments

Of all the places in the Bible that talk about love, the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians is known as the “love passage.” In it, Paul describes love as patient, kind, not envious or boastful, not proud, rude, self-seeking or easily angered. He says love keeps no record of wrongs, does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. Moreover love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres, and never fails (1 Corinthians 13:4-8). Paul was writing to believers in Corinth, but the Word is speaking to us about loving in this way today.

Young couples getting married often choose this passage to be read at their weddings—even those who may not have studied the Bible at all—just because they know the content is appropriate for the occasion. We should pray they will go back and read it again, paying close attention to Paul’s instruction, so his description of love can become the basis for a long-lasting marriage.

Yet who of us can live up to Paul’s standard of loving, as described in this passage? Truly no one can unless he or she first draws from the unending source of God’s love, unless the Holy Spirit supplies all the love needed for any and every situation.

Once we understand the nature of God’s love, we will understand how calling on His love to fill us up will make it so much easier to love others, even seniors we know who may be having a bad day. God’s love is unconditional, meaning there is nothing we can do to make Him love us less and nothing we can do to make Him love us more. God demonstrated His love for us by sending Christ to die for our sins so we may dwell with Him forever.

God’s love is trustworthy. It will never fail us. God will never say, “I can’t help you love that difficult person, you’re on your own.” Rather He will say, once we ask Him for help, “Sure, take some of My love, and give it generously.”

1 Corinthians 13 ends with verse 13: And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. What a sad world this would be without love. Let’s celebrate it on Valentine’s Day and every day, and praise God for giving it to us in abundance.

‘Tis the Tweason!

November 28, 2022 by Nancy 4 Comments

Here we are in the in between. Thanksgiving is over and Christmas is still a few weeks away. So how are we to spend this tweason if you’ll indulge my coining of that word? How can we hold on to the best of the last holiday while eagerly anticipating the next?

Holding on to the gratitude we felt at Thanksgiving is certainly a start. Sure, we are to be grateful at all times. But gratitude is more top of heart when everything we read or ponder has a thankfulness theme. I Thessalonians 5:18 encourages us to give thanks in all circumstances. Not necessarily for all circumstances but finding something to be thankful for in the midst of our situation no matter what it is. Perhaps writing with this verse in mind, Sarah Young wrote in the November 28 entry in Jesus Listens: “I give You thanks, regardless of my feelings, and You give me Joy, regardless of my circumstances.”

So give thanks. When we are able to purchase a gift for everyone on our Christmas lists, let’s give thanks for the resources that make those purchases possible. If a harried shopper cuts us off in traffic or takes the parking spot we were aiming for, let’s give thanks we aren’t going home with a dented fender. Give thanks.

I love that Sarah Young reminds us of the promise of joy because that’s something else that spans the seasons. As we move into the first week of Advent, the time we anticipate celebrating the coming of Christ to the world, we begin a four-week journey that helps us focus on hope, love, joy and peace. All four should fill our hearts and minds during this tweason, but joy can be a part of every week, every celebration, and every memory. I have four friends who have lost their soulmates, their life partners, their husbands this past year. In the midst of their grief, may the memories they have bring joy. Or so I earnestly pray.

Before we know it this tweason will have passed away and it will be Christmas! Christmas, a time for remembering that out of His great love for us God sent His son to dwell among us. Emmanuel. God with us. May the anticipation we feel now be centered more on Him and less on the harried hustle and bustle to come. During this in between time, let’s set our hearts on the true meaning of Christmas and let the rest be just the colorful trappings of the holiday.

So Happy Thanksgiving, Joyous Tweason, and Merry Christmas! God bless us one and all.

To Love and Be Loved

February 11, 2022 by Nancy 17 Comments

This time of year there is a lot of emphasis on love in our society, but too often the focus is on romantic love and little thought is given to other types of love. The love of parent and child, of grandparent and grandchild, or of one friend for another are all incredible forces of love worth celebrating. We can show our love to the seniors in our lives by reminding them that love is both timeless and ageless.

Jesus was the perfect model of how we are to love, and He asked us to love ourselves, love others, and love God.

First, love ourselves. In Mark 12:31, Jesus said, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Yet because of messages they heard as a child, old wounds, failures, or even sin, older adults sometimes find it hard to love themselves. We need to remind them that we can all love ourselves because God first loved us. And He loves us unconditionally. He loves us so much that He sent Jesus to die for us so that we could dwell in His presence for eternity. He loves us enough to convict us of our sins and free us from even the guilt of them. He loves us enough to indwell us with the Holy Spirit to comfort and guide us. He loves us enough to give us people to love and to be loved by, and a Creation to enjoy. He stuffs our shoeboxes with valentines!

Second, we are to love others. In John 13:34, Jesus said, “A new command I give you: Love one another.” Some people are easier to love than others. But we are even to love the unlovable. It may be unrealistic to believe that we will be able to love everyone we encounter unconditionally, but it is realistic to believe that we can consider choosing love as our first response in every situation. What a difference that would make in the daily lives of those in care facilities. Tell them it’s possible.

Finally, we are to love God. In Matthew 22:37, Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” He called this the first and greatest commandment. We love God when we worship Him and give Him praise. We love Him when we obey Him and trust Him with our past, present, and future. And we can do that at any age.

Let’s reach out to the seniors in our lives with the love that lasts—the kind of love worth celebrating today and every day. Happy Valentine’s Day!

First published in Pikes Peak Senior News, February/March 2021.

Love Like Josh

January 12, 2022 by Nancy 53 Comments

I’m not sure I can write about this but it’s become clear that until I do, I won’t be able to write much of anything. Beyond heartbreaking to us was the loss of our grandson, Joshua James Beller, on September 4^th of last year. Josh was born with cerebral palsy and lived to be almost sixteen before he simply didn’t wake up on that sunny, fall morning. It seemed as if God said, “This boy’s had enough and I’m bringing him home.” While we rejoice that Josh is with Jesus and free of his earthly body, the shock and grief of losing him continues to be a part of each day.

It’s so true that grief and relief are close companions. Some days, at unexpected times, it just washes over me that Josh is missing from our family and the tears come. Other days relief springs up, reminding me that he doesn’t have to struggle with his inability to talk or walk anymore.

Joelle and Will at the grand reopening of Wolverine Wake Up

What helped our family so much was the amazing support of the community of Parker, CO. Josh was a sophomore at Chaparral High School there and part of an inspiring group of special needs students. The day before he passed away, he applied for and got a job at the school’s Wolverine Wake Up Coffee Bar. With the help of his language therapist, Josh was able to respond to the interview questions on his computerized “talker.” Since it could also be programmed so Josh could push a button to say, “Hi, I’m Josh, welcome to Wolverine Wake Up,” Josh got the job as greeter! By all reports he came home that day so proud and excited that he had a job.

Word spread rapidly through the school that Josh had passed away. The Significant Special Needs Class decided to wear green T-shirts, the color denoting cerebral palsy, the following Thursday. Soon the whole high school decided to wear green to their ballgames that week to honor Josh. Then one of Chap’s competing high schools, Legend, heard about Josh and they all wore green to their ballgames too!

When Josh’s mom, Joelle, and his older brother, Charlie, went over to the volleyball game that Thursday night, the Chap Superfans began chanting, “Love like Josh! Love like Josh!” and friends of Josh’s twin brother, Will, wore green T-shirts with “Love like Josh” printed on the back. Later more T-shirts and wrist bands saying “Love like Josh” were created and sold in Josh’s memory to raise funds for The Cerebral Palsy Foundation.

Beyond the school, neighbors offered housing to us, brought food, and openly shared their stories of how much Josh meant to them. He inspired all who knew him to be the best they could be because he worked so hard at being the best Josh he could be each and every day. As a friend wrote to us, “Josh developed the fruit of the Spirit in everyone in his family, and that is his legacy” (Galatians 5:22-23). Clearly, that’s so true.

Our favorite photo of Josh with Charlie, taken by Will in 2017

And of course, from the first moment until now, God has been ever present, offering comfort and hope in the midst of our despair. He gifted Joelle with a beautiful vision of Josh in heaven, standing behind a bright light and pointing down while saying, “Mom! This is Him! This is Jesus! He’s right here!” He continues to comfort us every moment of this journey with the peace of God which passeth all understanding (Philippians 4:7 KJV).

I know without a doubt that when I get to heaven a handsome young man is going to walk up to me and say, “Hi, Grancy,” and I’ll know it’s Josh. I’m saving my first dance for him.

We miss you and love you, Josh. And we will do our best to “Love like Josh” the rest of our days.

A Letter to Mom

May 7, 2021 by Nancy 17 Comments

Letter writing is a dying art form in our society. What better time to resurrect it than Mother’s Day, when we can sit down and write a letter to our moms? If like mine your mother has passed on beyond the reach of the U.S. Postal Service, you can still write her a letter addressed to heaven and reap the benefits of feeling connected to her once again.

For most of my adult life I lived far away from my mother, either out of the country or on opposite sides of it. So Mom would faithfully write me letters telling me of all the everyday happenings in our hometown. She’d include an overview of the weather, how the garden was coming in, what my sisters and their families had been up to, any major improvements in the area—just any tidbit of news that would draw me closer to the place and people I loved and left. Almost always she would close with, “Well, I’d better finish up to beat the postman.”

I wrote her letters in reply, telling her news of the faraway places I lived and keeping her up to date on travel adventures and the “growing up” antics of my two sons. In short, we were pen pals as well as mother and daughter, and both of us were blessed by the letters that connected our lives and hearts.

It’s time to find some pretty stationery and write our moms again. But how can we make a letter to mom meaningful, whether she will read it or we’ll just deliver it in our hearts? One idea is to use the letters written by the Apostle Paul as our template.

Even though Paul sometimes wrote his letters from prison to churches he had visited, those in cities like Philippi, Corinth or Thessalonica eagerly awaited and shared the missives he sent. Why? Because Paul would most often begin with a warm greeting, add an expression of gratitude, offer a strong dose of encouragement (or admonition if needed), promote reconciliation and close with a message of hope.
Students of the Bible pour over the epistles of Paul for all the instruction on living the Christian life still relevant today. Though we may not want to include all of Paul’s elements in letters to our moms, they are a great place to start. For instance, we could say something like I thank my God every time I remember you (Philippians 1:3). We could remind her that we love her and that love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres (1 Corinthians 13:7). Or bless her by closing like Paul often did: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you (1 Thessalonians 5:28).

Because of God’s love moving in us we should all be able to address our mothers warmly and with respect despite any lingering relationship issues, express our gratitude to them, share some happy memories, and encourage them to keep the faith. Such a letter will be a treasured gift for a mom still with you, or a joyful remembrance of a mom loved and lost.

(First published in Pikes Peak Senior News.)

Come to the Cross

April 17, 2019 by Nancy 10 Comments

In a sense, the entire Christian life is a series of steps closer and closer to the Cross of Calvary—with each step an arrival. Only as we draw close in prayer and meditation to the truth of what Christ did for us by willingly dying on that cross can we realize the enormity of the gift we have been given. And for many, that journey is a lifelong process.

Yet even from a distance, where we may have stood terrified and huddled together under some tree, we can see the love Christ displayed on the cross that day. Love for His mother as He asked His disciple John to care for her once He was gone. Love for the believing thief on the cross next to Him as He promised, “Today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). Love for every man and woman created by His Father throughout history and beyond as He made the ultimate sacrifice for mankind. That means love for you and for me.

What do we see as we draw closer? That Jesus didn’t just pay the price for our sin, rather He took on all the sin of the world so that nobody anywhere would have to suffer eternal consequences for being less than perfect. When John the Baptist first saw Jesus on the shore of the Jordan River he said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). Believe. Come to the cross, and your sin, past, present and future, is gone. Not rationalized or sugar-coated in some way. Gone. As is the guilt of that sin. You are completely forgiven.

One step closer and we see the abject humility of the one who is both the Son of God and the Son of Man. We see His wounds and the blood flowing down. He lowered Himself to the very pit of hell—separation from God—so that we might go higher than we could ever go on our own. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:8)

The Bible promises that if we also humble ourselves in the eyes of the Lord that He will lift us up. Are you there at the foot of the cross? If you haven’t taken that journey, there’s no better time than this Easter. Fall to your knees in humility and worship the One whose resurrection from the dead we celebrate on Easter Sunday! Accept His unconditional forgiveness. You are welcome at the foot of the cross.