“For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through, love serve one another.” Galatians 5:13
Recently God has been teaching me about love, and more specifically, about the different ways to show love.
My Grandma passed away last week. It’s a sad way to start a blog post, but it’s what has been going on in my life lately, and how God has been teaching me.
My Grandma was a wonderful human. She was the kind of grandma who baked cookies with my little sister and I every Christmas, and loved to swim with us in the lake during the summer. She valued people over things, as evidenced by the last ten years of Christmas presents: donating to Samaritan’s Purse in our honor, instead of buying presents. More recently, she fervently showed off our wedding album to anyone who would look at it and would call every other week just to talk (I probably should’ve been the one doing that, now that I think about it.) In short, I love her and I miss her already.
Nate and I have been married for 3 years and this is the first time as a couple that we’re experiencing the loss of a close family member. The night my mom called to tell me the news, I was ok for about an hour. And then, right as I was climbing into bed, the weight of everything hit me. And the tears started. Nate snuggled up next to me and held me for a while. He didn’t try to fill the silence with words (what words are there, really?), but instead quietly consoled me through his presence. That’s all he needed to do. I felt loved.
Your intentional presence is a way to show love. All you, all in, no words needed. (Example: Jesus)
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I got coffee and went on a walk with two friends this morning. About 45 minutes into chatting, the conversation was getting deeper, so I went for it. “Well, to be honest.. my grandma died last week, so it’s been an emotional couple days.” I don’t know why I waited for 45 minutes to tell them that. It probably should have been the first thing out of my mouth. Telling them about my Gram then turned into stories of all of our grandparents and how wonderful they are (and how much we miss the ones who are gone). At the end of our two hour conversation, these friends prayed over me and my family, which was such an unexpected blessing for me.
Opening up is a way to show love. I love and trust my friends enough to share the deep things.
Praying is another way to show love. And not just “I’ll pray for you”, but also “Let’s pray right now”. (Luke 22:32)
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Just in the last week, God has visibly shown and reminded me of 3 ways to show love. Of course these aren’t the only ways to love, but definitely a couple that can help me live more like Jesus, and therefor more like love. So, I just wanted to share that with you guys. <3
P.S. Nate met my Grandma not too long after we started dating. She loved to tell the story of the first time Nate was with us for a holiday (Thanksgiving 2010) and she heard someone call her “Grandma!”. But it was neither my sister or I, it was Nate calling her that! 🙂 She was really touched by that moment and I’m really glad that he had a chance to get to know her over the last 5 years.
I had a moment the other day, while I was messing with my calligraphy tools, when I realized how fresh and freeing it is to make stuff that you have no intention of sharing with the Internet. This design really wasn’t something I was going to share, but I wanted it to accompany this thought I had. I was simply having fun on a Saturday afternoon, feeling the joy and freedom of experimenting and learning and making something with my hands.
