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Intro:
This summer, we are reviewing The Love Project, a church-wide initiative designed to learn together how to show love better to the community around us and to each other. This 10 week study is a key way for us to connect meaningfully with people around us, and make a lifelong impact in our community! Hi, this is Dorette Schaal with an encouraging word for your day. We are preparing for the one another project as a church body this fall, and this study serves as a great reminder that loving others is the greatest way to live. Together we can make love a way of life, and positively change our world. This week is all about kindness. Here is your dailyeword.

This week we will begin looking at the seven characteristics of a loving person. In a world where we are taught to look out for number #1, we are living in an opposite world when we begin to think about others first. This week we will be looking at Kindness as a characteristic of a loving person. A great definition of kindness is discovering the joy of helping others and the joy of meeting someone else’s need before your own, simply for the sake of relationship. A question we want to begin with is this: Would others classify me as a kind person? Do I look for ways to show kindness each day, or am I always looking out for number 1, and letting the chips fall where they may. Sometimes that answer is not clear cut, because if you are like most people, kindness is easier when you are not in a hurry, and when things in your life are good. We say that as Christians we are not moved by what we feel, but we generally are. If we didn’t sleep well, kindness is out the window. If we are in pain, or discomfort, or overstressed, kindness doesn’t come quite as easily. But kindness is a habit we can acquire, and have operate in our life whatever circumstances we are in. It comes along with being selfless. Selfishness centers everything on me. How I am feeling, how rushed I am, how others should treat me. We can be asking those same questions about someone else. How are they feeling, are they rushed, can I treat them well, and help them in their day? Kindness really does begin with thinking about others more. It can start at home with those you live with. Kindness can be a great avenue for your home life to positively change to be a more loving environment. Amazing what a little kindness can do.

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As the Love Project continues, I am wondering….how did you do this first week of our Love Project Review? Your love project this week is to find a way to show some love. So why not start at home. I suggest that you work on your family. I hope that you chose to walk in love, and be selfless, instead of selfish. You can let someone else go first ahead of you. You can choose love, on a moment by moment basis. It can be rough at first, because usually we are just in the habit of responding a certain way. We automatically respond the same way each time. Well, I’m hoping that that changes in your life. No matter what your age, you can make habits that will last a life time. So how can you start this journey that will last your life time? My simple suggestion for you is to start by doing little things. Mother Teresa said this once….do all things, even small things, with great love. When we make a choice in every circumstance to act in a loving way, we can begin a process in our lives that can only get better. Do things right when God speaks to your heart. Practice immediate obedience to God. Take time to listen to His voice. If you do everything as unto the Lord, as it says in Collosians, your attitudes will begin to change, and so will your actions. So your homework this week is …..do all things, even small things, with great love.

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This is the day we make it personal. How have you done this week in the Love Project? How are your attitudes and behaviors changing? Have you met with any resistance? My desire is that once you get a taste of how different life can be when you really, truly walk in love, and make it a way of life, you will never, ever go back to selfish, self centered living. If we want to experience the greatest joy available as a believer, it comes from living with a giving, loving heart. As we complete this week together, why not take an inventory of how much you are beginning to make a love a way of life. Start from the first thing in the morning. Do you wake up with a song in your heart (like the Bible says we can), or do you start barking as soon as the alarm goes off. How about when you get to work? Do you greet your co-workers with a smile? Or, do they walk on egg shell around you until you get your first cup of coffee? How about lunch? Do you complain as you wait for a seat at the restaurant? Are you impossible to satisfy when you order from the menu? Did you thank those who served you? How about when the work day is over? Did you greet your family with a smile, or did they run for cover? I know not all of these scenarios apply to you, but I hope they serve as a wake up call, or even just as a reminder of how you used to be. We can be pleasant to be around. Our relationship can be joy-filled. Our family life and relationships can be way more satisfying when we operate in love. Why not say this with me? I choose today……to make love as a way of life……..so that my relationship can flourish……and so that people around me………. can see the love of God……. demonstrated in my life.

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Love is something that we do. There is a positive country song that has that title. The message is, let’s not just say we love, let’s be loving, let’s do loving actions, and let’s love the way God does. As we continue this week focusing on how to live a satisfying life through living a life that is characterized by love, I want to encourage you to be excited about the journey ahead of us. Often when faced with the opportunity to grow or change, we get discouraged even before we start, because it seems so daunting. Being a loving person, and having the characteristics of a loving person in our life does take work. And being humans, we like to take the path of least resistance. If you ever start to feel overwhelmed, or that this is just too hard, think of it this way. You were made for love. You were made in God’s image, and He is the definition of love, He is love personified, He is the fullness of love! If we are to be like Him, that capacity is within us! The transformation that we need to walk in love’s fullness has already begun in you if you are a born again Christian. Your spirit has been made alive to God. God has already shed His love abroad in your heart. The seed of love is already within you…. all you need now is to put some things in place to help it grow. That seed needs the water of the Word, and the soil to be tilled so that great growth can happen. Plug yourself into places and align yourself with people who are helping you grow. Get involved in a small group with some accountability. Hang around with people who exemplify the kind of person you desire to be. If you keep on looking for opportunities to grow, and you will find them. Then love by doing…because love is something that you do.

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This is a great quote from Gary Chapman’s book Love as a Way of Life. “Every trait of love begins with small things.” I love two quotes from Mother Theresa….the gist of each is this….if you want to change the world, go home and love your family. The second is this, do all things, even small things with great love. When we start loving where we are, in the little things, we are in for big changes! We all would love to do something grand, but the grandest place to start is by operating in love where you are. Love your family, tenderly, gently, and with a heart of service. Be courteous and humble, helpful and grateful for the ones God has put in your closest circle, and then demonstrate daily, hourly, or even minute by minute that love is in the small things. Never walk past an opportunity to show the love of God to those you say you love the most. Give compliments, give encouragement, listen when they speak, give eye contact, put down your technology and play with them, enjoy being together, without criticism, without demands, or expectations. Doing just those simple things could change homes across the world. We were made for love. We were made to be loved. Let’s get this thing started. One of my favorite preachers, who used to be our youth pastor for almost 12 years at our church, Mark Boer has said this before, if it is to be, it’s up to me. Another way of saying that is, if I really want to see change, I’ve got to do something about it. Let’s go for it. Love really is what the world needs now. All we really need is love, sweet love!!!! I know that sounds trite, but there is a truth there, when we say it this way….all we need is love, God’s amazing love in action.

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What is authentic love? In Love as a Way of Life, Gary Chapman defines authentic love “as something within our capabilities, originating in our attitudes and culminating in our actions.” Love is more than a feeling, love is an action. It has to do with what we do! How good are we doing loving others? Thankfully we can’t give you a pass or fail grade, but if you are like me, I’m hoping to ramp my love life up. I want to be much better at showing and expressing love by the time we are finished with The Love Project. One thing to think about is that once we’ve begun, there really is no end to the Love Project, until we pass from this life to the next. Once we know what we can do and what is available when we do make love a way of life, there will be no turning back. We’ll want to live this way for all the days of our life. Authentic love is not based on how circumstances are going, or even the response of those you show love toward. Authentic love is love without conditions. We rejoice in loving others, whether they reciprocate or not. This sounds pretty radical. Our flesh says, I’ll love you if you love me back. I’ll rub your back if you rub mine. I’ll answer sweetly if you speak sweetly to me. This is just opposite of the love that Jesus demonstrated while He was on the earth. His kind of love is, turn the other cheek love. You tell lies about me, I’ll still bless you. You kill me (Jesus talking!) I’ll ask my Father to forgive you, because you don’t know what you are doing. That is radical love! Do we have the capacity for that? We really do! God has shed His love abroad in our hearts so that we can love with genuine, authentic, unconditional love. Let’s let that same love from God begin to change us from the inside out. He loves us, so we can love others.

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We are reviewing the Love Project this week, and being involved has the power to change you from the inside out. This study comes from the book Love as a Way of Life by Gary Chapman, and within this information, you can find a way to live a satisfied life, by learning how to love others well. In This week encouraging words featuring the LOVE PROJECT you’ll learn about:
The meaning of Authentic love and the the power of Authentic love
And an overview of the seven attributes of a loving person.
Kindness
Patience
Forgiveness
Courtesy
Humility
Generosity
And Honesty
In the coming weeks, we will look at each of these loving characteristics for a whole week, and discover ways to incorporate these loving habits into our relationships. We are in for an exciting journey, because when we obey the teachings of Jesus, we are bound to have success in our life. The promises are written over and over throughout the Bible. When we listen and obey, when we are doers of the Word, when we meditate day and night, and choose to obey and do what Christ commands, we will have good success. So let’s get started. Let’s find out what it means to love authentically. Let’s find out what power is available when we do. You will be surprised and excited! Together let’s discover how satisfying life can be when we walk in love. Today can be the start of something great. You can make a turn in a positive direction. We can discover together that the key to success in life, and living your very best life on planet earth is tied to discovering the power of loving others. Let’s leave our world better than we found it!

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A few years back, our church family participated in The Love Project, a church-wide initiative designed to learn together how to show love better to the community around us and to each other. This 10 week study was a key way for us to connect meaningfully with people around us, and make a lifelong impact in our community! Hi, this is Dorette Schaal with an encouraging word for your day. As we rewalk this pathway, we invite you to join us. We are preparing this fall to do the “one another project”, and love is the perfect preparation. Together we can make love a way of life, and positively change our world. Here is your dailyeword.

Today can be the start of something Big! Our world revolves around the people in our life. God wants us to thrive in our relationships and we shouldn’t be surprised that his pattern for our relationships is based upon authentic love being transferred from person to person. Over the course of this Love Project, our desire is that our love walk would increase to the point where every interaction we have with the people in our life would be fueled by the loving characteristics we are developing and our responses would be positive in every situation. That may sound unrealistic, but Jesus did tell us to love Him with all of our heart, soul and with all our might. That is total, complete love. I guess my position on any of God’s commands are if He tells us to do it, we are able with His strength and power to live it out in our lives. We are Studying Love as a Way of Life by Gary Chapman, and within this information, you can find a way to live a satisfied life, by learning how to love others well.

In This week encouraging words about the LOVE PROJECT you’ll learn about:
The meaning of Authentic love
That love is:
An action
And a choice
The power of Authentic love
And an overview of the seven attributes of a loving person.
Kindness
Patience
Forgiveness
Courtesy
Humility
Generosity
And Honesty
Let’s get off to a great start, and as a body of believers, let’s make love a way of life

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Today is Father’s Day! Because I am so blessed to have had a great dad, and to be married to a man who is an awesome dad to our children, and to serve a God who is the best Father of all, Father’s Day is a special time for me. So today I’m going encourage you to celebrate Fatherhood. For those whose dads have passed away, or those who don’t know their fathers, Father’s day can be very hard….so, first some fun quotes.

*A definition of fatherhood: A man who carries photographs where his money used to be.
*A proverb: The best and most important thing a dad can do for his kids is to adore their mother.
*Never heard by a dad at his deathbed: Gee I wish I’d spent more time at my job.
*One day a young mother and her kindergarten age son were driving down the street. The inquisitive little boy asked, “Why do the idiots only come out when Daddy drives?”

It is true that kids are costly, time consuming and they remember everything you say. It is also true that kids need to see love demonstrated and that they don’t become what you tell them to become, but they become who you are. (Yikes!) Great dads are not perfect, but they do know that the time they spend with their kids is an investment that pays the biggest dividends. They also know that their example is what their kids will follow. They are aware that their habits will likely become their child’s habits and that applies to vices as well. The way your kids see you treat others is probably how they will treat others too.

So on this Father’s Day, my prayer for all the dads and future fathers is this: Father in Heaven, we come to you in Jesus name, thanking you for dads that have Your heart. We pray that their hearts would be soft toward You and their children. We pray for their children to be blessed with a dad that knows, loves, and serves You. We thank you for dads that are men of their word, and men who stand for the truth and what is right, and set a godly example for their kids. We pray for protection for their minds, and believe that they will keep their hearts stayed on You. Thank you for wisdom as they raise their children in the admonition of the Lord. We ask you to especially bless them on this day that we honor them for their commitment and sacrifices for their families. We pray that You give them the desires of their hearts. In Jesus Name, AMEN!

After talking about natural things, we will delve into spiritual things. One of the most powerful things that we can do for our children, involves prayer. The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous person (mom or dad) makes great power available, effective in its working (James 5:16b). My three easy points are: 1) Pray for your child, 2) pray with your child, and 3) teach your child to pray, (by doing points one and two).

We need to be praying the Word over our kids! They don’t have to sow wild oats, or have a rebellious season. They can grow up loving God, loving you, loving their siblings and making right choices. The three main things I have prayed for my kids comes right out of John chapter 10.
1) That my kids will know the voice of God (vs 4).
2) That they won’t follow a stranger (vs 5).
3) That they will make decisions to follow God based on listening to His voice. (vs 27). There are lots of voices out there. It is imperative that our kids know how to discern God’s voice from any other voice. Most of all, we want our kids to be good decision makers, and making the choice to follow God in everything is where it all starts.

So my encouraging word to you is….pray for your kids. If you don’t have natural kids, there is someone who needs you to pray for them, so do a spiritual adoption! Parents, make it your goal to be your kid’s life long prayer partners. Let them hear you pray for them, and teach them how to pray, by both show and tell, so that they can be people of prayer, who know how to touch heaven, to change things on earth. It is possible!

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