February 25

Good morning! Here's today's Forward Day by Day reading

Happy Monday to all. First, a quick recap: We are born with a fanny pack/purse/bag/knapsack attached to our hip — cool right? Best thing is, God gives it to us all filled up with every tool we could possibly need to do his good work here on earth. Last week, we talked about how it might feel to physically wear this around and thought about what we might call our bag. In addition to the many strengths and talents designed specifically for us, our bag also contains a complete set. This complete set — the same model number for each and every one of his might warrior children — is a very durable, exceedingly wonderful compilation of the following items: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulnesås, Gentleness and Self-Control. For the past few days, we've been inspecting each amazing tool — first, self-control, then the most powerful tool in the set, Faith, and today...let's talk about Love.

Sounds like a good way to ease into the week, right? Love. Easy enough. In fact, today's reading talks about Love and what an important gadget it is. In John 15, Jesus gives us some super simple marching orders. He tells us this tool comes with just one simple instruction, "Love one another as I have loved you." No big deal, right?

Think again, sister-brother. While Faith may be the biggest honkingest and most powerful tool in the set, Love is the most complicated. But like every other tool in the set, it also yields some pretty amazing results.

The Love tool is special because it's double-edged and has some special features. It helps you love people, things and situations you like — but also forces you to love those things you don't, or may even hate. See what I mean about Love being a complicated tool?

I have a saying above my desk that reads, "You need only two loves in your life: for God, and for the person in front of you at any particular time." Perhaps that should be the more easy-to-understand instruction manual for Love. But as plain as it is, those words still look like Chinese letters in many situations where ill will or anger or hurt abound.

While I imagine our Faith tool looking like a big iron hammer, I think our Love gadget looks and feels more like a blanket. Maybe even a wet blanket. Have you ever see someone throw a wet blanket over a fire? Puts it right out. Without oxygen to feed it, the fire goes out right quick. If you can dig down into your bag, grip the soggy soft blanket and fling it on someone you don't feel so chummy about — animosity is extinguished. Problem solved!

Trouble is, the blanket isn't the first tool we want to grab. Usually it's the seemingly more effective tools like Thems Fightin Words, or the similar Gossip Gadget, or the Stuff Stirrer or Snark. I can think of many times I've left the wet blanket where it was and opted instead for a little Icy Stare or the Forget-You or the Screw It. Those tools are far easier to use!

The neat thing about our Love tool is that once you make the choice to grab it and sling it on top of someone, or something, its bonus features are unleashed. When that person or thing is covered in Love, the blanket illuminates three additional tools in its fiber: Compliments, Gratitude and often times, Pity. Those features make Love a whole lot easier to figure out. A great example is my neighbor. She yelled at me several times, like viscerally yelled at me, because my kids were "running wild." Well, I can tell you my kids run but they're not the wild kinds. She also accused them of stealing her 500-pound concrete lions from her front yard. Throwing a blanket on her has been no easy task. I have only begun to explore my tool's added features. But Pity certainly helps put her actions into perspective and gratitude that she keeps her lawn looking pretty helps soften the mood.

Who are you going to slop your wet blanket of Love on today?