Optimist’s Roundtable
By Martha Sykes
In the book of I John, it tells us “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love”. When I was growing up in the Shintown Methodist church, at our youth group, we would memorize verses and at the end of our time together, we would gather in a circle, hold hands, and have to recite a verse. Over the years, I have memorized many verses, but the verses about love have always been ones that I recall a lot. Since this is the week of Valentine’s Day, I thought I would reflect on love, especially God’s love.
We all have learned in our churches that the greatest commandment that Jesus taught His disciples, and us as we read scripture, is that “we are to love the Lord , our God with all of our hearts, our mind, and our strength and then He added that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves”. Jesus loved us so much that He sacrificed His life for us and we are to be a reflection of that love. We all have things we love, like our favorite foods, our favorite songs, or movies, but the love we have for Jesus is a love that is to become a part of our everyday lives as we interact with others.
One part of scripture that I always remember is God is love and if we love, we are like Him. The Bible tells us, He can make all things new( Revelation 21:5). Jesus can rekindle love when love has dimmed, with love from His great heart. There are moments that we experience on earth that can warm our hearts and may rekindle our love for our family, our friends, the beauty of the earth, or even a neighbor.
This week, we will be reminding those we care about, how much we do truly love them .Kids at school will be excited to give valentines to their classmates and husbands will be buying flowers for their wives. Maybe we could take a few moments and remind Jesus how much we love Him for how He surrounds us every day with His love through big things and those little precious “God winks” as I call them that He sends our way. May your hearts be full of a little bit more of Jesus’s love this week!!
