Love is a Verb.

swam today....felt great!
life is so much easier (and fuller) when we stop resisting the lessons and instead have an available, teachable heart.
obedience to our Beloved brings so much joy!!

the music benefit i was a part of this weekend was amazing. So many people coming together to give their time, gifts, talent, money to help others. very beautiful, very inspiring. $1000 dollars was raised to help those suffering from the effects of the hurricanes.

while there, a friend of mine inadvertently taught me a huge lesson, unknowingly served as a very humbling reminder. i was sitting in the sanctuary (main room) of the building with some friends and a man came in and wanted to talk to my friend and i. we had been sitting near to the end of a pew, and this man came and squatted on the floor at the end of it, putting his face slightly below ours. He was tall and kind of scraggly looking, i had seen him earlier, standing by himself in a room full of people. As he began to speak it became more and more clear that he just needed to tell his story, needed someone to listen to him.
As this man begins to share his life with my friend, i am mentally disconnecting. Thinking, 'this guy is going to talk forever', 'how socially awkward', terrible things like that. Terrible, but a natural response for a lot of people i think. As the conversation progressed, my friend stood up. I had no idea what he was doing- was he going to leave mid-conversation? was he attempting to make a tactful escape? no, my friend stood up and kneeled down on the floor next to the man, on the same level, and continued to listen from this position.
my friend, Earl, is blind and yet he was able to see this person so much more clearly than i was. Earl saw this man's need, his hurt, and listened with genuine interest and compassion- he invited this man to share more of himself, and he commented with such wisdom and grace.
What generosity of spirit, incarnate tenderness! Earl thought nothing of time, of appearance, of social rules or norms, he simply loved this man. Offered what was needed, his time, his ears!, a compassionate heart.
How beautiful, and how humbling. I was too caught up in my self, i would have missed this. While Earl was on the floor with this man, i just looked at him, tears streaming down my face. What a beautiful God we serve, and how beautiful his creation when we reflect his light.

"If I speak in the tongues of men and angels , but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbol. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing." (1Cor. 13:1-3)

Oh Jesus,
i want to be your heart- beating for those who are lost, speaking to their pain, bringing healing words of kindness, listening with compassion and grace. You are a wonderful Healer, your heart is so tender and your beauty is so powerful.
"Todo daria, no importaria-"...mi corazon late por ti.