Uncategorized – Rebekah Wright Online

It’s 2016—bright, shiny and full of possibility. I am a lover of new years. I love making my lists and goals for the new year. This year I have a bit of a struggle: I really loved 2015. I kinda don’t want to say good-bye to it. In 2015 my family moved from the USA to the UK and loved it. In 2015 my lifestyle changed and I lost 60 pounds. In 2015 I saw people say yes to Jesus and lives changed. 2015 was good to me.

Brian and I like to set a word and a verse as a theme for our family for the year. And in the last week of the year, God pressed this word on my heart: Experience. Then the ball just started rolling. Goodbye to 2015 became easier as I started to ask myself: What do I need to do in my life to really experience this year?

I need to stay as healthy as I can.

I know you can’t simply plan a healthy year. Sometimes, illness happens that we have no control over. But there are things that we can plan. The food I put into my body and the exercise I do—that is under my control.

And as I was thinking about that, God brought this verse to my mind as well:

Taste and see that the Lord is good. Psalms 34:8

I’ve always thought this was a kind of strange verse. But when I put it in the context with everything else God has been doing in my life it got me all kinds of excited! I already stated that I lost 60 pounds in the past year and that God is really teaching me a lot about health. Probably the greatest lesson I have learned is to eat real food: food that God created for us to eat. Taste and see that the Lord is Good.

I need to spend less time on my phone.

I can deny it as much as I want, but I spend too much time distracted by my phone. It’s a fact and it needs to stop. To truly experience life around me- I need to look up and connect with life around me. Taste and SEE that the Lord is Good.

I need to say NO.

I’ve written about this before so I won’t spend time on it now. But sometimes saying NO to good things makes room in your life for the best things.

I need to say YES.

I’m not at all confusing am I? There is a time to say no and turn down opportunities. But experience is about taking risks. It’s about saying yes even when it makes my stomach churn and my head scream NO! In experiencing 2016 I want God to do things in my life that I don’t see coming, things that I can’t do on my own. That means I need to be willing to follow His leading in my life. I need to follow that leading even when it is outside my comfort zone. I don’t like typing that. It might seem like someone who left her home country shouldn’t have a struggle being a risk taker. Someone who followed God across an ocean should be a little spontaneous. You’d think that, right? I like my lists. I like my plans. It’s more than a little scary for me to pray, “God, mess my life up.”

It’s even scarier to mean it.

When I first came up with the theme of Experience, I had thoughts of family vacations and days out. I thought of hikes and new places. But what if God wants me to experience something totally different in 2016? What if my experiences are scary and even if they are not fun at the time? Am I content to know that “the Lord is Good”? Do I trust that He knows the plans He has for me, and that they are good plans? Do I trust that, even if they mess up my plans I have for myself? I pray at the end of the year I will be able to answer- yes, I trust that!

So that’s it. That’s the big plan for 2016. Experience. Moments not things. Stories not souvenirs. Risks not comfort. It’s time to taste and see that the Lord is good.

Rebekah

Uncategorized

Holy Spirit

September 10, 2015September 10, 2015 rebekahwrightonline

Holy Spirit, you are welcome here
Come flood this place and fill the atmosphere

I love this song. I have sung it at camp and truly felt the presence of God. I have sung it at church and my heart prepared for the teaching to come and God’s spirit to enlighten new truth in me.

Your glory, God, is what our hearts long for
To be overcome by your presence, Lord

But the other day this song was playing on repeat in my head and I was softly singing while I was at home going about normal household duties. Then I suddenly stopped and thought- YES! This is exactly the song that should be the soundtrack of my home. These lyrics should be the prayer of my momma/wife/ministry leader heart as I go about all my day.

Let us become more aware of your presence
Let us experience the glory of your goodness

Not at church camp, not in a beautiful chapel- in my everyday life. In the boring, in the messy, in the victories and the defeats I want to be aware of His presence. I want my home to say- Holy Spirit you are welcome here.

There’s nothing worth more that will ever come close
No thing can compare, you’re our living hope

I believe this is the key to having that kind of home- making God’s favor worth more than anything else in my life. It has to be worth more than an organized schedule. Has to be valued over a clean house. Has to be sought after harder than well behaved kids. It has to be greater than an outward ministry. Those are all good things, and those are all things that my heart desires so much especially as school starts back up and we get back to a ‘normal routine’. I am so tempted to make those things the goal. But when the goal of my heart becomes to experience God, I can truly sing-

I’ve tasted and seen, of the sweetest of loves
Where my heart becomes free, and my shame is undone
By your presence, Lord

Holy Spirit, You are welcome here
Come flood this place and fill the atmosphere
Your glory, God, is what our hearts long for
To be overcome by Your presence, Lord

Rebekah

Healthy Soul, Uncategorized

Old made New

June 5, 2015January 2, 2022 rebekahwrightonline

A little over a year ago, my church decided it was time to get rid of the pews that were originally built in to the floor of our building. Now this church is beautiful, and those pews were historic. But the church had a vision. The people in the church had a heart to serve the community. They knew this would best be accomplished by removing the permanent seating and replacing it with movable chairs. So the big change happened. The nearly 200 year-old pews were pulled up piece-by-piece and the floor was leveled out and a new beautiful floor went down. Since that time we have used the multipurpose room for a weeklong kids club, ladies teas, weddings, Kids parties, and other events all in addition to our weekly worship. The process was hard. It was long. But the results were beautiful and the room has new life.

Yesterday I went to a coffee shop I had heard about but never visited. When I went upstairs to sit down I realized the table I was sitting at was a piece of my church. The shop had used some of the wood from the old pews and turned them into tables. And man, were they cool tables! In our church, those pews were no longer accomplishing the purpose we needed; but at this coffee shop they were given a brand new life and purpose.

Now, let me tell you why I was at that coffee shop in the first place.

Last week I reached a point in my life, my ministry, and my soul where I was overwhelmed. I realized that in trying to do too much, I was shutting down and not doing anything well. Brian knew I was falling apart, and I did too. So we came up with a plan. My first step: fill my life with scripture (more on that later), my second step: to start reading a book to give me some guidance (my book of choice was “The Best Yes” by Lysa Terkeurst), and the third step: Brian graciously sent me out to, um, I guess you could say- get my stuff together.

When I walked into that cute little coffee shop yesterday and sat down at that repurposed table, I was working through cutting ‘good things’ out of my life to make room for the ‘best things’. Isn’t that just like God to orchestrate such a real life example of this literally right under my nose?

When those pews were removed from the church, there were some people who did not like it. When I start saying no to opportunities- some people will not like it. However, if those pews were never removed- the church would have never been able to minister in the variety of ways we have been able to this past year. If I never say no to a “good opportunity” I will not be available to minister in the BEST way God has planned for me.

And let me take this a step further: because our church was no longer using the wooden pews, the coffee shop was able to use it to make tables. When I say ‘no’ to an opportunity- I am giving someone else the chance to say ‘yes’. I am placing my trust in God to fill that need instead of putting trust in myself to do it all. Sure there are some things that I do that aren’t necessarily fun, but they are needed and I am the person for the job. This is not an excuse to pass off everything I don’t want to do. Instead it is a way to involve others in what God is doing.

I sat at that meaningful little table for a few hours and worked on simplifying (there’s that world again) my schedule and responsibilities. And God worked on refreshing my soul with the excitement of new possibilities. Possibilities that are born out of passion and vision instead of obligation and a fear of “no”.

Thank you, God, for using a seemingly simple table to help teach me a big truth.

Rebekah

Uncategorized

Simplify

January 6, 2015January 2, 2022 rebekahwrightonline

2015 is here. It’s brand new and clean. I love the New Year. To be perfectly honest, I feel a little funny about this new year. My family is preparing to move to Wales in the very near future. I feel like my life is on hold until then. Like, I shouldn’t set any goals for 2015 until we get there and get settled. So I’m changing things up a little bit this time around.

I have a word for 2015: Simplify.

This month we will decide exactly what we want to ship with us overseas and get rid of the rest. Going through a bunch of tubs that have been sitting in storage for 4 years has got me considering what is really needed in my life.

My thought process started with physical things, but I also want to see simplicity spilling over into every area of my life: my schedule, my eating, my communication, my kids lives.

Brian and I spent time on December 31^st talking this over and he suggested we make Hebrews 12:1 our verse for the year.

Hebrews 12:1

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.

I love it. I love that we have a shared verse of the year. I love that we are on the same page in life right now. I love the imagery this verse has in it. This year I want to “strip off weights” that are only slowing me down.

I’m actually getting really excited thinking about it. But the more excited I get, the more ideas I have and the more complicated things become in my mind. So I know if I am really going to grasp this whole “simple” thing this year, I need to set my focus on the right thing. Which is why verse 2 is such a cool follow up:

We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.

So that’s what it’s about this year. Keeping my eyes on Jesus. Living simple. But my heart is a list-making heart, so I just couldn’t stop there. I had to sit down and write out some actual goals.

Goal 1: Memorize Hebrews 12:1…like really memorize it. Get it in my heart, head, and throughout my being.

Goal 2: Memorize Hebrews chapter 12. EVERY. WORD. OF. IT.

Goal 3: Focus on EXPERIENCES more than material things. This is kind of abstract and I don’t know exactly how I will measure it- but we’ll see where it goes.

Goal 4: Simple Eating –

More water Less coffee (I type this while sitting in starbucks- this will be a challenge people!)

More fruit Less sugar

More real food Less processed food

More moving Less sitting

Goal 5: Simple Evenings – As much as possible I am going to try to go technology free from 3pm to 8pm. This idea is not original to me, but I love it.

So there it is, my goals I wasn’t going to set. I loved blogging what God taught be about loving people in 2014, and I am so excited to see where this year takes me. I’m excited for the second year of inviting you to experience it with me!

-Rebekah

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The Gospel and Boston

December 23, 2014January 2, 2022 rebekahwrightonline

I completely love the Christmas season. I love shopping, I love gift giving, I love our elf on a shelf “Howie”, I love hot chocolate and twinkly lights. I BIG TIME love all of it! But this week it hit me hard: Christmas is all about the Gospel.

Sure, I’ve known this my whole life. I have made a birthday cake for Jesus since I can remember, read Luke 2 before I open any presents and know that He is the “reason for the season”. But have you ever had a moment where you know something and still feel like you are discovering it for the first time?

This year, I’ve read and heard a lot about keeping the Gospel simple. There is a whole lot of confusing stuff in the Bible. There are many verses that really good people disagree on the meanings of them. But this one essential thing God made extremely clear.

The Gospel is the news that God sent Jesus to this earth to live among us and then die to take on the punishment for our sins. Our part in this whole story is to believe and put our trust in this all-powerful, all-loving, self-sacrificing God. God who was willing to give His very self for us- wants our love and our willingness to enter a relationship with Him. God loved us, He gave us His Son to pay for our sins, We believe Him, We receive eternal life with him. (John 3:16)

While I’ve been trying to grasp the simpleness of God’s plan for all mankind this year, I was completely overlooking the simpleness of the holiday season. It’s all about a baby boy. A baby boy that was born to change the world.

I guess I should have had all these thoughts last year. Last Christmas I had a baby boy. He was tiny and cuddly and fresh. Last year I should have sat in the dim light of the Christmas tree and identified with Mary as she sat in the dim light of the stable and thought of each of us holding such a precious gift from God. That would have been such a good thought and blog to write. The thing is, it’s not hard for me to imagine looking at a sweet little baby and thinking how perfect and wonderful he is, and dreaming of the impact he will make one day. I can see Mary having those loving thoughts that first Christmas.

This year I have a little boy.

He is wiggly, dirty, and LOUD. He has a smile on his face and sparkle in his eye that melts this momma’s heart in an instant. And this week I find myself wondering, “Is this how Mary felt when she looked at Jesus?” Did Jesus make messes everywhere He went, or was he too perfect for that? My boy- he is a MESS MAKER! He amazes me how much he can get into so quickly and look so cute while he does it.

Even in the middle of the messes, when I look at him I think my heart might explode from all the love I feel for him. Could Mary and I have sat down for a cup of coffee and compared our little 1 year olds who had us wrapped around their chubby little fingers?

Sure that first Christmas was amazing and quiet and perfect. What about Jesus’ 1^st birthday? That’s what I want to peek in on. I want to see Jesus getting excited over that new toy and digging in to a cake and making Mary and Joseph belly laugh as he tottered around the room. How many stories does Luke 2:40 hold in its short sentence? (There the child grew up healthy and strong. He was filled with wisdom, and God’s favor was on him.)

The reason I don’t have these answers, is because it is not important. Sure my curious mind would love to hear all the behind the scenes stories. The thing I do know for certain is: Jesus was real. He was God and He came to this earth. And this Christmas, I celebrate that!

Merry Christmas

Rebekah

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Reflections of a 30 Year-Old

November 24, 2014January 2, 2022 rebekahwrightonline

Today I turn 30.

I am not real big about age. But I am real big about goals.

This is what I am realizing right now: I am big about ‘right now’ goals. I make a to-do list almost every day. Each year I make goals for that year. I have a big goal to get to Wales ASAP. But there was never a point in my teens or 20s when I sat down and said, “By the time I’m 30 I hope to…”

How do I know if my life has been successful up to 30 if I don’t have a list to check off? This is a hard question for a list girl. I am reading an awesome book right now and I just read a chapter about setting life goals. So I did. I made a list of 30 life goals. It gets me all excited to pray for and strive to attain these goals. But before I opened that book today, I spent some time in a more important Book defining what success should look like in my life. This is what I came up with:

Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tight to what is good. Romans 12:9

I don’t want to be fake. I really dislike fake. I want genuine in my life. I want a genuine love for others. I also want a genuine love for what is GOOD. Along those same lines, I am praying this:

For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love. Galatians 5:13

I don’t want to be selfish. I really dislike selfish. I love freedom in Christ, but my desire is to serve others in love. My prayer is that God shows me what this looks like in my life.

Do everything without complaining and arguing. Philippians 2:14

I don’t want to complain. I really dislike complaining. This is one of the first verses I taught my daughter. I have her repeat it to me almost daily. In reality, it is one I should repeat to God daily.

Okay, enough with what I dislike, here is what I love:

These older women must train the younger women to love their husbands and their children. Titus 2:4

I realize I am currently an “older woman” and a “younger woman”. Discipleship and training are big on my heart. I am in no way an expert on loving my family, but I pray God both teaches me and uses me to teach.

You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “for God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” 2 Corinthians 9:7

This year I am finding a new love in giving. One of the goals on my list is for my family to one day give more than we keep. How is this possible? I have no idea, but I love finding joy in giving. I get excited just thinking of what God has in store to teach me in this area.

I could share so many more areas of life I see God pointing at as I look through goal setting from scripture, but this is the one that sums up my cry to God this morning:

And may the Lord our God show us his approval and make our efforts successful. Yes, make our efforts successful! Psalms 90:7

Today I made a list of 30 life-time goals. My prayer over those 30 goals is that God makes my efforts successful. But my prayer over my life is that God shows me His approval.
Bring on the next 30 years…

Rebekah

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The Green Eyed Monster

April 25, 2014January 2, 2022 rebekahwrightonline

I had a moment of jealousy. Okay, more than a moment. I had a little pity party. I camped out there for a while and even invited God along. I told God all about how unfair it was that someone had more than me, got what I wanted, did what I wanted to do, looked like I wanted to look, my list could go on. This party, it wasn’t just a one night thing, I loved to revisit it and quite honestly sometimes I think I lived there. Then God whispered to me in the middle of my rant: Love People.

Back to this again.

I came across the question recently, “Why is it so difficult to celebrate other’s success?” That’s a hard question to answer. It’s not that I don’t know the answer; it’s that I don’t like the answer. I think it all stems down to jealousy. And who wants to consider themselves a jealous person?

When I looked up the definition of Jealous this is what I found: resentment against a person enjoying success. Here’s the thing I find to be true about jealousy: when I feel resentment against someone enjoying a success, it is impossible for me to be truly happy for them in that success. And let me just be clear, I WANT to be happy for others. As I have struggled with this God has made 2 things overwhelmingly clear to me.

God does not have a blessing bucket. I don’t know why it is so easy to think if someone else receives a blessing from God there will be nothing left for me. Ridiculous when you actually say it out loud, but so tempting to believe when you see someone else get what you want. My God is able to do infinitely more than I could ever ask or even think (Ephesians 3:20). God will never run out of resources – it is just not going to happen.

To avoid jealousy, I need to be generous. I have had the other statement in my head for a while, but once God unlocked this in me everything has clicked. When I am investing in others – time, prayer, resources- I am genuinely happy at their success. It’s crazy how that works! I mean to think that when it says in the Bible, “It is more blessed to give than receive” (Act 20:35) it is TRUE!

God has done such a work in my heart to clean out jealousy and resentment that I have ignored or justified for a long time. But before I close this post and consider it done, I have to look at a second definition of Jealousy that I read.

Jealousy: vigilance in maintaining or guarding something.

So in complete opposition to everything I just wrote- I am now striving to be MORE of a jealous person. As I prepare to physically leave this country and my family and friends, I want to have vigilance in maintaining and guarding my relationships. As I strive to love deeply this year I know one thing for sure, deep love takes time and effort. Loving people is work – but it’s worth it.

-Rebekah

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I like my husband.

February 13, 2014January 2, 2022 rebekahwrightonline

Sharing a drink with my friend, Brian Wright, at Taco Bell on Valentine’s Day 2005
(2 years before we had our first Valentine’s Day as an actual couple)

It’s Valentine’s day, so I feel it’s appropriate to take this time to say, I like my husband.

With our not quite normal life on the road, there are many times when Brian and I are together ALL. THE. TIME. A few weeks ago my mother-in-law even asked, “Don’t you two ever get sick of each other?” Um, yes. Yes, there are times when we both crave personal space and time alone. But for the most part we really do love spending time with each other and the abundance of family time is one of the things we love most about deputation.

I said before I’m not an overly emotional person. In our first years of marriage when Brian would know I was upset about something he would always ask, “You don’t like me right now do you?” I would answer with, “I love you” and he would fill in the blanks with, “But you don’t like me right now.”

In my mind I was supposed to love my husband. That’s what the Bible taught and that’s what people always said. But I was allowed to not always like him, wasn’t I? I mean nobody always likes their spouse.

There is a verse in the Bible where Paul tells the older women in the church to teach the younger women to love their husbands (Titus 2:4). It always seemed self-explanatory to me until I read a little deeper into it a few years ago.

In the Greek language there are different types of love. What I always assumed Paul meant here was to love my husband with agape love. That’s the self-sacrificing, I love you more than myself, kind of love that we always hear about with marriage. In reality Paul used the word phileo here. This type of love is a friendship love. Why would Paul, inspired by God, say to teach women friendship love?

Because, speaking as a woman, I know I can do sacrificial love.

I can do a whole lot for my husband—laundry (even fold it and put it away), clean up the house so it looks nice when he comes home, take care of the kids, cook his favourite meals and let him hold the remote or pick the restaurant!

I can do sacrificial love. . . all without actually liking my husband.

When I read Paul telling the women to teach this kind of friendship love it makes me believe I am not alone. In fact, the need for God to address it in His Word lets me know it is a weakness we might all struggle with. Maybe you don’t have a husband but you can see this in your relationship with a parent, close friend, or even your kids.

When it comes to phileo love, it involves our emotions. More importantly, it involves controlling our emotions. I would make the connection that controlling our emotions is tied very closing to controlling our thought life. And Paul has another great verse for that as well. Philippians 4:8 tells us to think on things that are true. The truth is, I am a sinner just like Brian. Before I hold his sins against him, I need to remember that God doesn’t hold mine against me.

Instead of thinking of myself as a martyr by serving my husband even when I don’t “feel” like it, I have instead tried to learn to love him with a phileo love. It’s a love that is kind and attentive, not because it has to be, but because it wants to be. When I realize my emotions and thoughts are not going in the same direction as my self-sacrificing love, I can go through a list of questions in my mind: Am I focusing on what is true? Am I loving my current circumstances or spending my time dreaming of better? Am I loving the person I am committed to loving, or dreaming of a different scenario? Have I tried to see this situation from his point of view? The questions to ask yourself are personal to you, but chances are you know what they are.

It’s been about a year since I read this truth about the verse, and I would love to say I have learned my lesson. But there are still times Brian turns to me at the end of a long day and says, “You don’t like me right now do you?” The change is that I no longer take this as an opportunity to let him know what a saint I am for still sacrificially loving him. I now realize that it is proof that I am not making the effort and time to love my husband as a friend.

So today we will let that mother-in-law that thinks we are weird watch our two kids and I will go out on a date with the guy that I have been friends with for 10 years. We will probably just eat lunch, drink coffee/Dr. Pepper and laugh together. We will work at this thing we call our marriage because at the end of the day I want to be able to look over at him and say,

I like my husband.

-Rebekah

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Let Love Cover It

February 5, 2014January 2, 2022 rebekahwrightonline

I recently got my feelings hurt. Not something that I dwell on too often, but this time it got to me. I went to bed feeling down and quite honestly a little grumpy. I woke up the next morning with a sharpie note on a napkin from my husband.

It simply said, “Love covers a multitude of sin. Let love win.”

I’ve made it very clear that my goal for 2014 is to love people. I have a verse for the year – 1 Peter 4:8 and I talked about loving people deeply. Let me be honest here – when I set out to love people, I wasn’t thinking about people who would hurt me. When I said I wanted to love people I meant I want to do cute things to show people I’m thinking about them, I want to be patient with my kids and husband, I want to build deeper relationships with those I don’t know well, I want to lift people up in prayer. I had dreams of showing love to people that life has been hard on. I wanted to not judge people on their past, but love the person they are in the present. Sounds good doesn’t it?

But I failed to put into my goal and thinking the last part of that verse about loving deeply- for love covers a multitude of sins. See I had no problem with love covering a multitude of past sins, or sins committed against someone else. But what about those sins that others commit that involve me?

There it was on a napkin placed in the bathroom at 7 am. Let love cover a multitude of sins. A part of my goal that I knew I had to include. And by loving people who hurt me, I don’t mean develop thicker skin or remaining silent. I think both of those things are necessary and appropriate at times. But sometimes loving someone means having a difficult discussion with them about how their actions impacted you. Sometimes loving someone means not just letting a sin slide, it means facing it head on. But facing it head on covered in LOVE. When do I know which situations need grace to let love cover it and not address it and which ones need to be addressed head on in love? I believe that’s the Holy Spirit’s job to tell me, and if it’s His job to tell me – I better be bathing the entire situation in prayer to know what He wants.

January down, hard lesson number one down. Here’s to 11 more months of discovering what God is teaching me when I say I want to love people.

Rebekah

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When Good Intentions are Not Enough

January 10, 2014January 2, 2022 rebekahwrightonline

On December 31^st I sat down to write out my list of goals for 2014. The night before as we were going to bed, I told Brian I was going to get up early and work on this list. After a few minutes of talking through resolutions he said,

“In 2014 I want to Love God.”

Then he said, Have fun getting up early, rolled over and went to sleep. Just like that. Simple.

“Simple” has never been my strong suit. I am more of a pro and cons weigher/chart maker/list writer. So the next morning I got up before the rest of the family, got my coffee, my notepad and pen and started my list.

I began with the traditional “better myself” type goals mainly because those are the resolutions you are supposed to make, right? So after I got done with the read more, exercise regularly, and eat healthy stuff- I started to think about what this year held and what I wanted to be at the end of it.

After about 30 minutes of ideas of how to be a better wife, mom, sister, daughter, and friend, I wrote in big letters across the bottom of the page- LOVE PEOPLE. I guess what my husband came up with in a few minutes wasn’t such a bad idea after all. A short phrase to focus on for the entire year instead of making things complicated. But I still had my list to help with the specifics of how that was going to get done.

The next day I heard that the Bible app YouVersion was encouraging people to choose their verse for 2014. I thought this was a great idea. But again, where do you start? So much of my life right now is about learning to have faith, to trust God even when the situation seems impossible. So I thought for sure it would be something about that. But as I read through some verses I had marked over the past year one stood out to me:

1 Peter 4:8 Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins.

There it was. Love People. What I love about this verse is that it doesn’t just say be kind or help one another out. It says to show DEEP love for each other. Another version says it this way: keep loving one another earnestly. This means sincerely. It’s not just having a good intention, but being serious about it.

So I had it. A nice phrase and a verse to go with it. As my first act of “loving people”, Brooklyn and I got out the markers and stickers and made thank you notes for everyone who gave us Christmas gifts. We had fun doing it and got all the cards done and addressed in an afternoon.

Then we started packing to leave on the next trip. Then we traveled for 2 days straight. Then we were in a one room apartment for a weekend. What does any of that have to do with thank you notes? Nothing, except that I let it all distract me from actually getting stamps and mailing the cards.

One of the thank you cards was for my grandpa. I didn’t have much of a relationship with him growing up and this year for the first time he sent a gift to my husband and me for Christmas. I wanted to make sure he knew how much we appreciated the gift.

This week my grandpa passed away. I still have his thank you card.

I know to some this sounds silly, but part of me still wanted to send the card. I wanted to tell him we loved him and appreciated his generosity, even if he wouldn’t get the card.

I didn’t send the card. Instead, I am keeping it as a reminder. My sealed and addressed envelope is my reminder that life is short and good intentions don’t love people – ACTIONS LOVE PEOPLE.

The next few posts I’m going to go more in depth with what loving people means to me. But above all, in 2014 I am resolving to not just say I’m GOING to show love to people. I am going to take the ACTION needed to show deep love.

Rebekah

Category: Uncategorized

2016: Moments, Stories and Risks

Holy Spirit

Old made New

Simplify

The Gospel and Boston

Reflections of a 30 Year-Old

The Green Eyed Monster

I like my husband.

Let Love Cover It

When Good Intentions are Not Enough