Love like Jesus loved us

Why should we love like Jesus? Because God is love. Let us then use God's love for us as a standard for loving others. God's love is an agape kind of love which is translated as charity. The meaning of charity nowadays is simplified to just mean giving something or doing something for the less fortunate. But if charity is the best word to describe agape, the love of God, then it must have a deeper meaning.

But how about how we love? As Christians, we are told to love one another, to love like Jesus loved us. Is this an impossible thing to do? Without God, it would be impossible. Without God, our love will remain based on feelings or selfish motives. God's love is not because He feels like it but because He does love us.

Is your love based on feelings, which are momentary and can just come and go? This is like falling in love as if you were catching a disease, and just as easily falling out of love as if you had a big accident. This kind of love is what many couples start with. But if they just remain in this kind of romantic love, then it will not survive because feelings change and problems arise. Unless a conscious commitment, a deliberate choice is made to love completely, then the love is only a temporary fantasy.

This is why true love can only be complete in Holy Matrimony. Like Christ being wed to His bride, the church, the exchange of persons, of relationships is where love can truly exist. While our concept of love is constantly distorted by movies, love songs, books, and television, sins like fornication and adultery continue to wreck lives and families. Let's not learn love from wrong perverted sources. Let's look God, how He loves us, and love the same way.

Priceless gifts for Christmas

Whew! So fast. Few days from now and it's gonna be Christmas. A lot of gift giving, parties, and shopping and eating. But there are gifts worth giving this Christmas which makes us happier than anything you can find under the Christmas tree!

Gift of Gratitude- Say thanks to the people you love. Your husband, wife, daughter, son, friends, office mates. Say thanks not only to the people who give you gifts but to everyone who makes your Christmas merrier-from the cashier to your house helper. And above all say thanks to the one who is the reason why we celebrate Christmas - Jesus Christ.

Gift of trust - Share your innermost feelings to the person you trust - your spouse, parents, friends. It shows that you trust them and it also builds relationships.

Gift of listening - Give the carolers a chance to finish at least one song before handling them the change and closing the gate . Some might be in it for the money but that doesn't mean they don't love your attention.

Gift of words - Take a break from gossiping or badmouthing anyone. Use your word power instead to encourage someone. Your words should heal, not hurt.

Gift of space - Being in one house 24/7 during Christmas vacation may make you and your family get on each others nerves by New Year's. Respect the times when someone in your family just wants to do their own thing and have "me time" of your own.

Gift of time - Everyone has the same 24 hours a day so make the best of yours. Devote some precious time to helping others or caring for others. If time is gold, that should always be well spent.

Gift of contentment - Learning to love what you have instead of pitying yourself for what you don't have makes you more willing to give more generously. Count your blessings and find ways to share them.


Gift of family connection - You see your cousins every year but do you really know them? Talk to them especially in this times of family reunions and gatherings and find out what the biggest happening in their life for the past year.

Gift of forgiveness - How can you spread joy and goodwill to all if you have got grudges? Sincerely greet "Merry Christmas" to those people you don't talk to for several years and let the past be forgotten and forgiven.

Gift of letting go - Let go of past hurts and pains and move on with your life. Accept that change is the only constant thing in one's journey in life.

Secrets to a Successful Marriage

It's always interesting to see old people walking together, holding hands, being so sweet with each other. And I wonder how their relationship remained so strong in so many years that they have been together when I see a lot of broken marriages and broken families. In a book entitled "I Love You" by Gordon Martinborough, which I have been reading lately, he tells about the three big secrets of a happy marriage.

First secret is loving yourself. What does it have to do with a happy marriage? If you do not love yourself, you make yourself unlovable! In other words, you make it difficult for others to love you. After all, whoever wants to marry Mr. or Miss Misery? And if you do not love yourself it is difficult for you to give love to somebody else for you cannot share what you do not have.

Second secret is the self sacrificing love. A kind of love that puts the desire of the other above and before the needs of one's self is the quality of love that constitutes the second secret of a successful marriage. While the first key to a successful marriage is to love oneself, the second secret is to love your partner better than yourself. If each partner will practice this principle, most marital problems will disappear.

The third secret , the most important ingredient of a successful marriage," Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind"(Luke 10:27). What does loving God have to do with a loving, happy marriage? The answer is simple but profound "God is love" (1 John 4:8).

A happy marriage may be likened to a triangle with Christ at the apex and husband and wife at the corners of the base. When the partners are far from Christ, they remain distant from each other. As each spouse moves toward Jesus, they get closer to one another. And when each connects with Christ, they become connected to each other. Love for God is the primary secret of a successful marriage.