What's Love got to do with it? February is Apple Month ... By Jocelyn Faire

Sometimes my quirky sense of humour gets the best of me ... Life is too short to take things too seriously. I wanted to write well on the theme of love, but the line “What's love got to do with it?” kept popping into my head.

February has been seen as the “Love” month for as long as I can remember. But my curiosity wondered why the Co-op store in my Manitoba hometown also had Feb as Apple month. Why would you highlight wrinkling apples after five months in cold storage? While trying to find out if the fruits were still featured, I checked out a website for National Awareness Themes, and Love did not officially make it on the February list, although it appears to be an American based list. The Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation promotes Feb as heart awareness month. Home base for love is the heart, although it may not be the literal pumping muscular organ. One disturbing statistic I found on the Heart and Stroke website is that:

“Every seven minutes in Canada, someone dies from heart disease or stroke” (Statistics Canada, 2011c).

Although love covers a multitude of sins (isn't that scriptural?) it may not clean out your arteries. So if an apple a day keeps the doctor away, perhaps a hug a day, may keep the love flowing. It is sad to me that heart disease is one of the leading causes of death. Don't you wonder how that statistic would translate for the spiritual heart?

My wish is that I will Live every day of my life, not merely be alive. And loving is a healthy exercise for the heart.

If your curiosity is piqued read the themes for the month of Feb. While we are inundated with things we need to be aware of, thank goodness you don't have to try to remember any of these monthly themes.

So “What's love got to do with it?”

Everything, “the earth is full of his unfailing love.” Ps 33:5 NIV.

Lukewarmness I account a sin, as great in love as in religion. Abraham Cowley

February is known as:

• Age-Related Macular Degeneration Awareness Month

• Black History Month

• Body Awareness Month (I am quite aware my body ain't working the way it used to.)

• Electrical Safety Awareness Month

• Heart Disease Awareness Month (Heart And Stroke in Canada)

• Heartworm Awareness Month (for the dogs)

• Low Vision Awareness Month

• National Cancer Prevention Month

• National National Awareness Month Awareness Month (Is that like a double negative?)

• National Pet Dental Health Awareness Month

• Safety Awareness Month

• School-Based Health Center Awareness Month

• Sinus Pain Awareness Month -- I guess March just wasn't good enough for them...They moved

• Termite Awareness Month (I would prefer not to be aware of termites)
  

While running late may not qualify for cardio, showing love after Valentine's Day is good for the heart.

Broken Hearts by Brenda J Wood

We glamorize Valentine’s Day, pretending that everyone loves it, but do they? Lots of people don’t have a sweetheart or even a good friend to share the day with. Many a heart is broken from loss or loneliness. Why even God has been through that.

God saw that human evil was out of control. People thought evil, imagined evil—evil, evil, evil from morning to night. God was sorry that he had made the human race in the first place; it broke his heart. (Genesis 6:5-6, MSG)

If you are one of the disillusioned on February 14th, remember you are not alone. Why not send a card to another lonely soul and remind them that whether or not a ‘special’ sweetheart ever appears, somebody even more important loves you!

What marvelous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it—we’re called children of God! That’s who we really are. (1 John 3:1a, MSG)

Prayer: Father God, we thank you for loving us in spite of your own broken heart. Amen



Brenda J Wood
http://heartfeltdevotionals.com

Love is Bigger than Romance - Tracy Krauss

Valentine's Day came and went yesterday and if it wasn't for my romance loving spouse, I probably wouldn't have noticed. (Except for the RED HEARTS, chocolate, and all the other commercial reminders in every store.) Here is the crazy thing about it. I am actually NOT  a very romantic person. My husband readily admits he is the romantic in our union and our children laugh at us because I am always the one balking at 'too much sappy-ness'. He loves all that mushy stuff.

My rule: No PDAs! Gerald's rule: Ignore Tracy and constantly embarrass her in front of others with Public Displays of Affection. I can just hear one of my kids saying, "Come on, Mom. Snuggle up with Dad on the couch and watch a romantic movie."  Sigh. (My movie choice is a twisted paranormal or Sci-fi flick.)

Yet...
I write romance novels. And I read a fair number of them, too, usually for review. Okay, and I watch (and enjoy) a good romantic comedy when my husband twists my arm... probably not that much twisting involved, although I like to make a lot of noise and roll my eyes.

If I am truthful, I actually AM a romantic at heart. I've just had a lot of practice pretending not to be. I think I'm finally coming out of the closet. You see, my husband knows me better than I know myself. He knows that I actually love it when he brings me flowers or when he constantly says nice things. (I know some of you are finding it hard to believe that too many compliments can get irritating...) He ignores my rolling eyes and cries of 'Sappy!" or 'Lame!" and smiles, continuing to lavish me with such ridiculous shows of affection. AND I LOVE HIM FOR IT. 

I thank God everyday that He put me with a man who loves me and doesn't mind telling me (or the world) that this is so. Despite my whining, how horrible it would be to be stuck in a marriage yearning for affection. I know this is the case for many once the honeymoon phase has passed. Perhaps this is why I find it easy to write romance novels and believe in that kind of love - the kind where the hero only has eyes for his lady; the kind that lasts for more than thirty years. (We're on our thirty-first year of marriage and thirty-fourth year together.)

God knows best. He knew I probably had self esteem issues (who doesn't?) and needed a man who would relentlessly romance me despite myself. My husband isn't perfect, but he is perfect FOR ME and I thank God for putting two unlikely people like us together.

Lest you think I am totally heartless, I will direct hubs to read this post once he gets home from work. Oh - and I've given in to the PDA thing. A waitress asked us once if we were newly weds. We just looked at each other and laughed. My husband's answer: "She's still my beautiful bride."

Tracy Krauss lives with her oh-so-romantic husband Gerald in beautiful Tumbler Ridge, BC. For more visit her website: http://tracykrauss.com

Actions Speak Louder than Words by Lorrie Orr

“You love it,” said Miss Patty with emphasis. “Does that mean that you really love it? Or that you merely like the looks of it? The girls nowadays indulge in such exaggerated statements that one never can tell what they do mean. It wasn’t so in my young days. Then a girl did not say she loved turnips, in just the same tone as she might have said she loved her mother or her Savior.” ~  L.M. Montgomery, Anne of the Island                                                                              

No other word is quite like love. Synonyms fall short. Used as a noun and as a verb, the word conveys everything from the way I feel about chocolate (dark, please) to the overwhelming emotional attachment I have to my husband, my children, and my parents. Tone of voice can convey differences in meaning when I say the words “I love…,” however those differences are more difficult to distinguish when I write them.

Writing about love requires attention to the writer’s adage of “show, don’t tell.” Gestures and actions speak loudly in the written form, conveying depths and variations of emotion. Two examples follow:

1. I sat in the humid clinic waiting room with my sick child. The hum of Spanish voices rose and fell. Across the room, a young Shuar mother sat silent, holding her baby in her lap. Her face reflected no emotion, but as I watched, she looked down at the little one, cupped one hand around the back of his small head and with the other, gently brushed his hair off his forehead. “Ah,” I thought, “she loves him just as I love my own child.”

2. “Of course I love you,” she said, her eyes darting to the door. “I have to go, can we discuss this later?” She shrugged into her coat, grabbed her purse and left.

Actions, gestures, and attitudes reflect the degree of love. Without them, the words, “I love you” echo hollow.  

The ultimate gesture of love is provided for us by God, who is Love. All other love pales in comparison. When God says, “I love you,” to me, he’s not just mouthing words. Over and over he shows his love for me, in enormous ways, from the gift of his son, Jesus Christ, to pay for my sin, to the minute details of my life. He wants me to know, to feel, to live his love.

When do I sense God’s love for me? What are the moments when I experience the grace and love of God pouring over me and I feel utterly loved and fulfilled?

* When I’m together with my family. When we sit around the table, eating together, laughing, talking. Watching the little ones. A granddaughter cuddling against my shoulder. Playing games together. Sitting in front of the fire just watching them. I’m overcome with love for my family and with the sense of the love I’ve received from God.

* When I’m in the garden, the warm sun on my back, my hands in the dirt, planting, weeding, coaxing plants to grow straight, marveling in the potential of each tiny seed.

* On star-filled nights when I look up at the sky and try to grasp that the God who created all of these wonders loves me intensely.

God shows his love to me in so many ways. So I love him back. He loved me first, then I loved him. What are the gestures of love in my life that show him that I love him? Obedience, showing grace and mercy to others, spending time talking with him – when it comes to love, actions definitely speak much louder than words.

A Valentine Letter to My Lord by Shirley S. Tye

Dear Jesus:

Love is in the air. Well, I guess it’s out there; it certainly isn’t in me of late. I haven’t been bearing all things or enduring all things very well. Instead of kisses, there are complaints on my lips. There isn’t any kindness in me, only anger, irritability, short temperedness. Many things provoke me; get under my skin like a bad rash.

I could give several excuses for my attitude and behaviour: I’m tired, no, exhausted is more like it; I’m not well; doctors aren’t moving fast enough to help me – oh, yeah, I know there are others more ill than me and must be attended to first. My new career as a psychotherapist isn’t taking off on a run as I thought it would (was I wrong when I thought You called me). I’m carrying a burdensome debt because of the education to get this worthless piece of paper that says 'Master’s Degree' – big fat hurry deal!  Now I’m working as a spare school bus driver (backup driver for those who can’t make it to work) and I’ve discovered there are many drivers taking time off – so, I’m up at 5:00 am and on the job by 6:30 am, filling in for someone five days a week – a different route, a different bus each week sometimes two or three different routes and buses in one week; in between driving, I race to my office to counsel a client who can’t pay, so I drive to pay the office rent, liability insurance, and memberships to keep my professional status – to be creditable.

I changed careers at the age of sixty-one! What was I thinking?

Regardless of how I’m feeling, you, Lord still love me. It is your love that sustains me. You never give up on me. You are always there for me. You patiently listen to my complaints then slip your loving arms around me drawing me close to you and whisper encouraging words in my ear. Forgive my complaining, my unthankfulness, and my insufficient communion with you. Jesus, you are all I need. I love You!

Your complaining rebellious little child,
Shirley

The Many Layers of Love by Sandi Somers

This month’s prompt, on love, is one of the broadest prompts I have ever attempted.

Love’s meanings are like a multi-layered cake. We say we love God, we love our spouses, our family members and friends. We love our cats and dogs. We love chocolate, a walk in the morning, a beautiful piece of music. We give and receive love through a touch, a smile, or through spending quality time with others. Especially we think of love in February as we celebrate Valentine’s Day.

As I thought about this prompt, a new layer of meaning emerged for me. I have a daily “morning prayer” as I begin writing. I ask God to infuse my thinking and my words. I pray that God will meet the needs of my readers and encourage them in their faith walk. Now I began praying that God through His Spirit will fill my readers with His love so that they will return His love and be able to love others more deeply. God is faithful and will answer in ways I cannot imagine.

Now over to you. Where does this month’s prompt take you? How is one of love’s layers a touchstone in your writing?

I Corinthians 13 for Writers - Ruth L. Snyder

Though I write in the style of Phil Callaway or Janette Oke, but have not love, I am merely scrawling empty words or filling meaningless pages.

And though I have the ability to show, not tell, and understand the intricacies of grammar and know how to submit a properly formatted manuscript; and though I find an agent who is able to get my book published, and have not love, I may as well write nothing.

And though I use my writing to help a non-profit group, and though I give all the proceeds from my writing away, and have not love, I have accomplished nothing.

Love causes me to work diligently on writing projects, and to be gentle in my critiques of others' writing. Love means I'm not upset when another writer receives first place in the writing contest, but when I do win I humbly thank God for the ability He's given me, recognizing that without Him I wouldn't be writing at all.

Love doesn't put down other writers to make my writing look better, doesn't gloat over other writers' failures, isn't upset when someone suggests more editing is needed, and accepts a rejection letter as an opportunity to explore other opportunities.

Love does not change content merely to please a publisher or make more money. Love insists on sharing a difficult message with gentleness, in obedience to God.

Love keeps me writing in spite of writer's block, encourages me to hone my writing skills so that I can express myself more clearly, and directs me to continue submitting despite numerous rejections.

Love never fails. Fiction will fail. Non-fiction will not always be published. Books may someday vanish...

So let us do all our writing in the context of God's love and for His glory.

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