"You cannot give away something you don't have"...

I have started following Joyce Meyer's blog, and tonight it just so happens, while watching American Idol I decided to click through her website and I can honestly say WOW!  God is amazing!  She has a section about loving God, yourself, and others.

This spoke to me because I don't have a problem loving God, however loving myself?  Wow that is a tall task somedays, and then to throw into the equation loving others?  To understand love, I want to look at Webster's definition of love:

Love-noun 

1.  a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person

2.  a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection for a parent, child, or friend

3.  sexual passion or desire

4.  a person toward whom love is felt; beloved person; sweetheart

5.  used as a term of endearment, affection, or the like

Love-verb

1.  to have love or affection for

2.  to have a profoundly tender, passionate affection for (another person)

3.  to have a strong liking for; take great pleasure in

4.  to need or require; benefit greatly from

5.  to embrace and kiss (someone)

The commonalities in the word love for me are tender, passionate, affection.  Whether we look at it as a noun or a verb, God tells us to love.  Deuteronomy 6:5 provides us with this commandment, "you shall love the Lord your God with all your mind and heart and with your entire being and with all your might." With every single element of your being.  Showing God how we love Him is difficult sometimes.  It requires our obedience.  It is a commandment...not an option.  

To love yourself...to love myself!  "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Mark 12:31). Maybe not for you, but for me I fall short on this one.  While evaluating myself, I saw the quote "You cannot give something away that you don't have in you".  Then I thought back over quotes I have heard, and another hit me in the face..."to the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world".  How can I be the world, I am Tammy...and then I said, "Tammy, think of one person you don't love"...and I can't think of anyone I don't love...I may not like them, but I love them.  I love people!  Therefore, I have to love myself.  To love myself, do you think that means I like myself 100% of the time?  Nope, nope, and nope! I have faults, I have cellulite, I have glasses, and I sometimes have bad breath!  But you know what, I do love everybody...so I have to love me!

When I think of this, I realized that God's love is a gift, and we are commanded to "love out loud" (Joyce Meyer).  With Valentine's Day coming up, I want to challenge you to think of someone you need to love. Think of ways to show your love and to let His people see how you love GOD!  There is truly only one happiness in life, to love and to be loved.

Easy, huh?  Nope!  How many times do you feel unloved?  How many times, as mom's do we feel taken advantage of?  How many times do we feel not pretty enough to be loved?  I will answer, with the energy of love in my life, I want to be motivated to be healed by God to love people, even to love people that do not want to be loved...God is love and you cannot, I repeat cannot give his love away if you do not have it to give.

Put your love in action---reach out and love others.....