I constantly feel like LIFE IS A BLUR with the number of activities and years whizzing by – the speed of how things change – and yet don’t – because we often DO step out into familiarity all the time. Like the train I took last night – I knew where to look to find the track number – the track changes (often) but it is a sure thing to find a train in the nick of time. Certainty in uncertainty. Life is like that, so keep moving.

Yes, I love to experience life – and not conquer it but to SEE it – and life IS fast, as it was a blur of life this weekend – from Girl Scout events Friday night, lots of  construction work at my house Saturday (simple stuff like a string on a light that broke to complicated reattachment of gutters to the house after trimming the tree that dragged them down), to grocery store runs and other prepping for a blizzard coming it seems later today, and then also yesterday stopping to buy girl scout cookies that I didn’t need but saw the EXCITED enthusiasm of the girls selling, one gave me a note that said how appreciated I was – so cute – I was just the random person of the moment who was not acting randomly and she pre-wrote the note – not randomly but with enthusiasm… Yeah – adorable… And then train and the concert last night. There was a man in the train station who asked for a coffee at the kiosk where I was grabbing a needed nosh – unlike my girl scout interactions this was not adorable because it seems to me that he probably did this often – stood in the walkway and asked if someone could buy a coffee for him then had the bravado to ask for a donut too when in line – well whatever – I obliged him (haha I even had a coupon for a free donut) but then just kept moving – just kept moving forward… And was there anything grand in the plan there? I don’t know but it is sometimes best to just help and then move on…

One Spirit that we DO know is grand in the plan is the Spirit of the Lord – and doing things out of LOVE – which never changes – and we are to test those spirits. How? Well, we are to ask God that too – ask Him how to go about checking ourselves – checking our motives – checking our activities – checking our mental state – check “what would Jesus do?” in that moment… So, in the “Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error” – it is not that we look to the world for our answer – it is that we look to the Lord of HOW to answer each situation and step forward. There is plenty of evil in the world – but LOVE always wins. “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” – these are great words of wisdom from John, who knew his time was needed to teach – and we share his teachings of the wisdom of the Lord – and all in all – over the millennia that God’s word is taught – His LOVE never changes. And His Love in the World will keep going until He determines the time we are finished.

“… we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.”

One of the pausing moments last night, in the blur of my weekend, was listening to Broadway music at a concert, put on by a famous composer and his friends – I loved listening to classic favorites of mine and new-to-me songs. (Thus the train rides which were so good after an exhausting day of working outside and inside) – Yes, I felt like I landed where I wanted to be – after a busy day – to sit in a great theater and absorb “the pause” was the experience I longed for. That pause was perfectly placed in my path, I needed it and I took full advantage. The music was magical, the moment was priceless. The love of the people for the craft of Broadway music and for the love of performance was evident. The crowd appreciated every note. The favorites that I listened to were from Godspell “Day by Day” – and from Wicked the Musical “Changed for the better – Changed for Good”, and also new to me favorites like from Pocahontas, “The Color of the Wind”…

And that is the lyrical life gift – to be like Pocahontas the native of the land where she could appreciate what was around her – and that is to be us too – where we are to appreciate that life is a blur and every note is not perfectly in tune – but the LOVE of God in this world to this world is the constant baseline – even where the melody can change. You can NOT change LOVE because LOVE is God and God is LOVE – that rock of the Lord which we build on – and rest at the end of the exhausting day – and wake up to in new mercies of the morning.

Today is going to be a busy day – let us LOVE all the way through.

AMEN

1 John 4:1-19 NKJV
Love for God and One Another
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.

You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

Knowing God Through Love
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

Seeing God Through Love
No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

The Consummation of Love
Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us.