Love.

I've been out here now for about five weeks.  There are still boxes of photos that need to be hung up, but the place is starting to feel like a home.  I really do have a deep sense of belonging and I'm trying to figure my way out in the COVID world we live in.  I'm trying my best to be friendly to my neighbors when I see them.  I offered my next door neighbor a jar of blackberry jam.  She knew she knew me but couldn't remember where I lived.  Next door, I told her.  She laughed but I'm thinking she has some stuff going on in her life.  She told me she had some stuff going on in her life the first day I met her.  I'm guessing that it's still a thing.

Buckaroo and I still go for our walk.  I need that time.  But in the midst of everything, I just kind of wanted to talk about some things I see God doing around me and it's just cool to be a part of. 

Love is hard.  Hating someone, well, that's pretty easy to do.  It's kind of a default for our sin nature.  Loving someone, well, that can be hard when that person's being un-lovable.  But I'm seeing God do some amazing things with just the simple act of being there and loving someone like Jesus loves us.  That got real for me today.

I learned at work years ago that there's something different about me.  It's not something I do, though.  It's something that people can see and it's the fruit of the Holy Spirit.  It's got nothing to do with Dale, but I was reminded today that it's a result of the work of the Spirit in a believer that shows results.  A for instance was that on my old crew at work, when the guys worked with me they stopped cussing.  I never asked them to.  Not once.  When they were around me but working with other people, they were themselves but when they were working with me, something changed in them that had absolutely nothing to do with me.  I remember another time when they were giving me a bad time about how God work in my life, He showed up in such a way that they never ever made fun of me again.  Because they saw it for themselves in a way that was personally directed at each of the individuals who were doing the kidding.

The things I see God doing now though are much, much deeper than that.  I see God moving.  I see His hand at work in lives of people and it's kind of jaw-dropping to see how love can change a situation.  I'm not talking about romantic love.  I'm talking about love, the way God loves us.  The results are amazing, even to me, and it just draws me closer and closer into a relationship with God.  

Prayer changes things.  I know that.  Often, what it changes is us.  And often, the difficult things we are asked to do, in part, expose to sunlight some of the things that God would have us work on personally as we work and walk through the difficulties.  I can look back on some difficult stuff two years ago and see how it prepared me for now.  If I hadn't gone through that then, I would not have been prepared as I was to deal with today.  

God's word is amazing, too.  It's kept me going these last couple of weeks.  It truly is a lamp unto my feet and light unto my path.....

Love isn't easy always.  But love, unconditional love, well, that coupled with God's power and the leading of the Holy Spirit, and walking with Jesus.....man, that can lead to some pretty cool days.