Falling In Love Again *2013*

This sign was my sign...
For 20*13*

I love *13*!

Thirteen is my good number.

I don't say lucky because I don't believe in luck, so to speak.

I believe God has a plan and everything happens for a reason...

That being said, the number 13 has been good for me:)

13 was my street address for the first real house I lived in as an adult, married, Army officer.

13 was my street address again, different house, different state, when I gave birth to my first child.

13 was the date I met my present husband, Rod.

13 was the date we were married, 2 years later.

I already love this new year...20-*13*.  

It will surely be good.
I have no doubts.

Regardless of the valleys and hills we may travel, God is always good.

Knowing this truth with every inch of my being, I still like to ponder the new year, reflecting upon where I am and pray for a goal or theme to carry forward.  As mentioned last year, it helps me to sit before the Blessed Sacrament.  Jesus never fails to help us out when we listen for His guidance:)
 *LOVE*
This is my answer for the year.
I am falling in love again *2013*
I know I'm bearing my soul here.
Apparently, I need a little work in this area.
I know I do.
I get discouraged when others don't love me back.
I might reach out to someone and receive very little in return.
In this case, my natural inclination is to retreat.
If someone refuses my love, I internalize and shut down.
I'm done loving.
At least for a day. (wink)
*Newsflash*
Maybe I'm not really loving others and what I really want is for others to love me.
How selfish is that?

I think about Mary.
What would she do?
I have no doubt that she just loved people unconditionally. She did this out of her love for Jesus...She only wanted them to know her God-Son, to love Him and see Him through her.  
Now that's how I'd like to be,
all the time.
I'm going to work on that, as per my marching orders,
read during my recent holy hour in this beautiful book...
"My divine Lover, your devices to attract souls are truly amazing.  Dying for us did not satisfy you.  You had to give us this sacrament as a companion, as food, as a pledge of heaven.  You had to become a tiny baby, a poor laborer, a beaten criminal, even a morsel of bread.  Only a God who loves us deeply could conceive such ideas!
But when am I going to respond to your insistent love?
Lord, I want to live to love you.
My life is worthless if I do not use it for that.
And what is there to love but you, who are so good, so kind, so lovable?
May my soul expand with love when it thinks of you.
And when it hears the names crib, cross, sacrament, may it be sparked with the desire to do great things for you.
O Lord, let me do something for you before I die."

If my soul expands with love for the Lord, how can I ask for anything in return?
Sometimes it's not that easy.
How can we tackle such a monumental task?
The answer can be simple...One little bite at at time.
A very wise friend (and Carmelite layperson) recently told me that it helps to pick one person at a time, someone we are struggling with loving.  In our human nature, God knows we are otherwise overwhelmed:)  Within our desire to love God, we can concentrate on praying for this person and for the strength to love them for who they are, created in the image and likeness of HIM, and not for what they give us in return.  God's love for the unlovable will guide us to His perfect light.
I shall try,
I shall do my best,
to love God more truly, deeply and completely.
Only through truly falling in love with Him over and over again, will I be capable of loving those I have the hardest time loving.
I seek help in the manger.
Lord, I want to live to love you.
My greatest desire is to share your love with everyone around me, including the toughest to love.

This prayer crossed my path yesterday.
I'll take it as another sign that I should pray it daily:)
Radiating Christ
By: Venerable John Henry Cardinal Newman

Dear Jesus,

Help me to spread Your fragrance wherever I go.

Flood my soul with Your Spirit and Life.

Penetrate and possess my being so utterly

That my life may only be a radiance of Yours.

Shine through me, and be so in me

That every soul I come in contact with

May feel Your Presence in my soul.

Let them look up, and see no longer me but only Jesus.

Stay with me,

And then I will begin to shine as You shine,

So to shine as to be a light to others.

The light, O Jesus, will be all from You.

None of it will be mine.

It will be You, shining on others through me.

Let me thus praise You

In the way in which You love best:

By shining on those around me.

Let me preach You without preaching,

Not by words but by example,

By the catching force,

The sympathetic influence of what I do,

The evident fullness of the love

My heart bears for You.  Amen.

Falling In Love Again *2013*
Won't you join me?
Beloved, let us love one another, because  love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.  Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love.  In this way the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him.~1 John 4:7-9
{I'm linking up over at Suscipio's Naming the New Year!}