Love, Part I

I think that there is a misconception about me & my view of Love.
I'm not anti-Love.
I'm just hard on Love, b/c Love is hard on me.
Love isn't a game. Its real. I take it seriously.
Sure the in Love aspect is fun & airy, but L-O-V-E ain't shit about it fun it is what it is & its tough to ME!!! That's why real Love, cost...& it ain't cheap! Its worth having. Its worth preserving. Its worth it...when its real.
Hence my current stance on Love may not be as light & care-free as the next girl who's in Love or ready to be in Love or falls in & out of Love @ random.

...that's just not ME...this is ME...

(btw-this is a 3-part series!)

I'm learning about love.
What it means.
How it feels.
What it does.
How it taste.
What it sees.
How it smells.
What it says.
How it dwells.

In the past couple of years, more so in the recent months, I have recognized the unconditional, unwavering, untainted Love of God. WOW! Its so amazing to me that His Love is so encompassing, of all the good, all the bad, all the ups, all the downs, all the sins & all the frowns. He still Loves us! Is that not amazing to you?

He blesses me even when I fuck up, even when I don't deserve it, when I disappoint him, when I lie, when I cheat, when I steal. When I don't do my part. When I neglect my share. When I don't tithe. When I don't pray. When I don't read. When I don't sit & stay...to hear what he has to say. When I don't recognize that it is b/c of him I am here...today! That's almost asinine to me...parents can stop Loving children...though that's hard to imagine its true...friends can stop Loving friends...spouses stop Loving each other...children stop Loving parents...siblings stop Loving each other...BUT God...the God we take for granted, the God we use & abuse...the God we mistreat & misuse...the God we put in a box...the God we call on when convenient...STILL Loves us! Does that right there not make you want to run outside & scream GLORY to the top of your lungs?! I'm not that big on screaming but maybe through this post, God will know how much I Love Him, how much I am learning about Him, how much I appreciate Him. How I just want to do better for Him.

I'm not perfect though I claim to be. I know my faults. I'm working on those. I know my wrongs. I'm righting those. But in the midst of it all...I am comforted in knowing that the God I serve Loves me no matter what & for that reason alone I can't NOT serve Him! He Loved me first & He'll Love me last-that right there is just...WOW!!!

Therefore Love is important, I can't imagine my life w/o God's Love...it in turn grants me His grace, His mercy, His strength, His power, His will, His plan, His purpose, His wisdom. Hence I am in love w/the idea of love...when Love can Love ME even when I don't Love it...WOW! I'm in awe! I'm in awe of God. Just think about it & I dare you not to get emotional, not to want to just do a little better than you're doing, if for nothing else than a sign of appreciation. Seriously, that's not just a love I want...that's a love I need...one in which I can't live w/o!

I'm sure most are familiar w/this scripture but I thought it befitting to include in today's post...so take this w/you...read it, re-read it, analyze it, break it down, apply it...to you & your situation, talk to God, discuss it w/him. Eat it (b/c it is food...for your soul). Live it. Breathe it!

1 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have Love, it profits me nothing. 4 Love is patient, Love is kind and is not jealous; Love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part; 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. 11 When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. 13 But now faith, hope, Love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is Love. (1 Corinthians 13, New American Standard Bible)

Love Yourself folks, b/c if you don't...no one else will...& everyone wants to be loved...even ME!

Peace. Love. & Happiness!

XoXo,

S. Parks