A while ago when I was memorizing the Love Chapter from the Amplified translation I was struck by 1 Corinthians 13:5 and the exhortation to refrain from keeping a record of wrongs. I admit to you that a mental running record of offenses is what comes naturally to me so pondering on this verse, especially in connection to my marriage, was much needed. God brought to mind all the verses I know that tell me to pick up my sword and fight the natural woman –the old me–in me. Not to be passive and simply expect old thought patterns and old habits to disappear on their own. He so encouraged me to let go of that toxic way of thinking and really challenged me to let my Man off the hook the same way He had me. He reminded me that He chooses not to keep a record of my offenses – even though He could have a list longer than I have time to enumerate or you have time to read. But instead He chooses to remember my sin no more.
For I will be merciful toward their iniquities,
and I will remember their sins no more.
In fact, He keeps account of the things I do right. What a God! What Grace! What Love! But again, love is not simply what God does – it’s Who He is.
The I AM is LOVE.
And Love tells me that whatever is lovely, whatever is noble, whatever is excellent – these are the things I should be thinking about – not offenses, real or perceived, committed against me.
So, I picked up Philippians 4:8 and I began to keep a record of rights for my Man. The stuff isn’t deep some of it’s downright silly. The very first entry says . . .
- 1. You smiled at my humming and I know it must be annoying.♥
I just write down the things that speak to my heart in the every day. That’s what real living and real loving is – the every day. There are grand moments of celebration but they ring hollow if that’s all there is. There are special occasions filled with hoopla but they don’t mean much if they don’t stand on the shoulders of the daily choice to love. So I write down the things that show my Man’s choice to love me in the everyday. I keep a record of his rights. I brag on him to me. I think about “these things.”
And so today on February 14th, I’m going to share “Journal Entry #60” and thank God that He calls us to be like Him. Without His Word and His call to imitate Him as a dearly loved child, I would’ve missed out on these most excellent things and I never would have loved like that left to my own devices. Thank you Lord for all you do.
Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that. Ephesians 5:1-2, The Message
#60 — ♥ — Brett – Will you be my Valentine?
Hello Valentine – and I mean that with every ounce of love in me.
I want you to know that I notice you – noticing and “not noticing” – me.
I know it doesn’t come natural to you to say things out loud, but you still do. You tell me out loud that you love me and that I’m beautiful to you. You’ll never know how many times I’ve whispered “thank you Lord that beauty is in the eye of the beholder” and given thanks that your eyes still see me that way.
I’ve noticed the effort you make to see what’s important to me so that you can celebrate without being coached. It melts my heart that you never ask me to tone down making much of Him just because your style is more low-key. And the smile that creeps across your face when you’re listening to me share the latest thunderbolt to strike my soul makes my knees weak.
I notice you closing the door when my “joyful noise” bothers you rather than ask me to stop.
Yes Sweetheart, I’ve noticed all your noticing and
You’re just IT to me.
I’ve also noticed all your “not noticing.”
Not noticing when I haven’t shaved my legs – for a long time! Not noticing the physical baggage I’m dragging “behind me” these last months. Not noticing that the house isn’t quite as clean as it should be. And not noticing the days that I don’t expend the energy to do my hair or put on my make- up.
Yes Sweetheart, I notice all your “not noticing” and oh,
How I love you!
I love you for not letting the reality of your wife sway your heart when it doesn’t always match the dreams you may have had of the girl you’d marry and I love you for looking more like your Dad everyday. For choosing to love, despite the circumstances, just like He does. . .
I hear His voice in you – You sound like Him.
I see His grace in you – You act like Him.
I feel His heart in you – You love like Him.
Yes Husband, you look more like Him every day
and Valentine,
I’m so grateful you are mine.
So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 1 John 4:16
glimpsedglory 