Gracie
Real Love… The beginning patchwork of something beautiful
Love….. such a word in our culture.
Often it is just that, a word. In the same breath that we say we have the deepest and most adoring love for someone we also so passionately proclaim the love we have for the new Taco Bell Doritos taco. We are not only a culture that doesn’t understand true love but we don’t even have the words in our language to begin to understand it.
While you may have high hopes that today I am going to give you all the answers that your heart has been longing for for so long – the things that, when heard, they will instantly make everything come into play and make sense – well… I will be letting you down today because I don’t know either. ( I know you are thinking… wait what the heck?!? I thought this was going somewhere) ”It is, and it isn’t” would be my answer to that thought.
I am going to share with you where I am in my journey of learning what real love means and then I will also be sharing with you somethings we have in store over a period of time to open the door for others to step in here at the nothings and give us a small glimpse into this huge idea of love.
Valentines is coming up in our american culture and for a 29 year old girl who isn’t married I am supposed to be obligated to hate this holiday… The truth is I actually don’t mind it; it is kind of fun at times. But I do have small moments in which I do feel a strong emotion of dislike about it, mostly in stores. But, when I stop and look at the motive of why I have this strong emotion, I get a glimpse into who I really am and where I truly am.
It is the nagging reminder that there is something greater out there that, at moments, feels like I am the only human that hasn’t figured out the formula to gain access to it.
But the truth, when I stop and cry out to the Lord, is that I just don’t understand true and real love.
I have to remind myself often that what I see around me in February every year isn’t the truth I should be looking for. Which can I add, that February is the same month as my birthday. So somewhere in the month I have a moment where I feel robbed by Saint Valentine. Then at some point I usually lash out irrationally at him and how he had to be so great as to have done a holiday in MY month… but then I move on and realize it wasn’t his fault he was just trying to do good in the world. So, in order to save face here… Way to go dude!
Now, back to my point. Often what we see in this love emphasized time is not the real Love of Jesus. Jesus talked about love being the very thing that causes us to lay down our lives for another. How can that love be the love we celebrate with a heart shaped balloon that says Be Mine? That is the key it isn’t… it can’t be.
I am not married as I have said before, but I have loved and lost; I have family and close friends so when we talk about the love that lays downs one’s life, that I can get behind and understand. The Lord has had me on a journey for over a year where he has been talking to me and moving in my heart and mind to really understand Him as a Bridegroom. It has been a challenging concept for me, yet so powerful. I have been in John 17 a lot, and the first time I ever read it from the perspective of what a husband is supposed to be I understood more than ever real love.
“While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the scripture might be fulfilled.’ -John 17:12
Here we see something so familiar… while I was with them I have kept them… I have guarded them…. Will you keep her in sickness and in health… This is Christ’s commitment to us just as vows often hold a husband and wife to commit to one another.
This is real love…. The love that keeps us… the love that guards us to no end to the point in which not one of them has been lost.
This is what real love is beginning to mean to me more and more not just from a person to person perspective but from my Savior as well. That He desires to keep me and guard me and not just me but all. This is also meant to be a resounding definition of real love. A love that holds fast to the commitments it makes and the love that isn’t always easy, but always powerful.
This is the start here at the busynothings where we are going to be walking down a path to discover stories of those who have either grabbed onto, understand a small piece, or have experienced a shred of what this real love looks like in this fallen and broken world.
Gracie Martin will be our first post tomorrow and she will be sharing several chapters in her story of earthly love that has done nothing but bring glory to the Lord and helped many others around her and her husband understand how the Lord wants to reach beyond the boarders of heaven and shows us each day this real love.
This is how you will find us most of the time… laughing over something ridiculous… =-)
Photography by: Angela J Photography
Gracie, Jacob and I have been friends for 4 years. I was great friends with Jacob before him and Gracie dated and as Gracie came into the picture the Lord truly knit our hearts together in wonderful ways as friends, counselors, and sisters for one another.
I was honored to get to be a small part of their relationship and help them walk through so much individually and together in many aspects. I was honored by getting to stand with them at their wedding and still to this day will never forget the feeling of victory in the room as they married in front of many who knew the journey they had come down and had full faith that the Lord would use them in mighty ways.
Gracie is a passionate person in all that she does. She is a person who loves well and who hates to be recognized for the good she does. I wrote about her and Jacob in a post earlier this year about the NWA: Water Walk, which is a wonderful cause, however, now I am looking forward to all getting to know Gracie’s beautiful heart.
I am passionately excited to see what all her story will bring about in the world around her and in the lives that are stretched out through computer screens all over.
We will also be bringing others to tell their stories in this journey. This is something that we desire many others to join in with comments and if you have stories to contact us and we will give you a place to share.
We desire for ourselves and the world around us to begin to learn from others and understand a real love that changes all it touches.
old-fashioned conversation vs. culturally relevant jargon
I’ll be the first to admit this- I can be a bit slooooooow. I was slow to get Facebook, Twitter and Blogging- and really, really slow to get a Mac.
Don’t misunderstand that for laziness, I really didn’t see the need for any of that until I HAD it and then the lightbulb went off above my head, the “ahhhh, now I get it.” moment. I suppose I can take this as far as conversationally I’m a bit slow. I never know the trendy, cool people sayings until they aren’t so trendy and cool and I show my age by saying something like, “as IF” in a conversation, perfectly torn from the mid 1990′s.
I’m used to just not having hip jargon or knowing the street names for illegal drugs and I’ve accepted that I’m a bit of a square. Wait- that is such an old school slam that there is a chance that is cool again, how very hipster of me…
Lately, however, I’ve been noticing an alarming trend in conversation that has me concerned. I don’t like this new commonplace saying that both my friends and co-workers regularly say to me. So admittedly- I’m a bit lost. Is this just something I need to jump on the trend bandwagon of and go with it althought it irks me? Or do I do the “be true to thine self” and tell people? UGH- my people pleasing side is plaster-smiled in overdrive and yet the truth is begging to come out from between my clenched teeth. What to do?
What, you ask, is this rude conversation trend that has you so upset?
OK, so I’ll tell you, but only after I share this one last plea: In this day and age of “instant” everything- we find ourselves running from the time we get up until that last email is sent at night. We work hard, play hard, text, email and multi-task ourselves into an efficient machine. We get double shots of expresso in the morning and double shots of tequila a night. Our phones beep with reminders and our online and physical calendars are highlighted with priorities. We google chat someone a few desks away instead of talking to them because it’s more to the point and we can keep working on that email while simultaneously chatting with 6 other people about different topics. We plan fun day trips, squeeze in play dates and try to be involved with community but even that feels forced and contrived sometimes. Life is busy and I’m starting to loose the ability some nights to “turn off” and relax, but I don’t realize I’m not relaxing because I’m in the zone and wired.
So, my pet peeve is sprung from conversation itself. With friends and co-workers alike, it actually started with friends and now I’m hearing it more other places so it’s contagious! Hah! Let’s take time to talk. Let’s be 10 words less efficient. Let’s build relationships as friends and take some time to listen. Not every conversation has to be focused and direct with that instant purposeful edge. Sometimes we need to chat without having to think too hard about it. Don’t misunderstand me- at work specifically there is a need for efficiency and we don’t need to be flippant or careless with out words but there needs to be some care and relationship as well.
Now that I’ve droned on and on, I’ll share with my specific pet peeve and stop being so general. I’ve heard this from almost every young person that I’ve talked to in the last month and I’m protesting that is must stop. It’s the “YeahYeahYeah” suddenly hitting you in the face. You are having a conversation, searching for your words, trying to share and then overrun with “YeahYeahYeah”. It’s like a verbal… not quite a slap but a pinch none the less. and it’s not just the words- it’s the TONE. To me, it says:
-“I’ve already heard you say that so stop saying it.”
-“I already know what you are about to say” (even though they don’t know what you are about to say)
-“You are wasting my time, get to the point”
Be honest- am I being waaaaay too sensitive? Am I just being a little cray-cray? Is this something I should just go with of or should I politely say- “umm, HEY LET ME FINISH MY DARN SENTENCE.” 
Do you interrupt people with “YeahYeahYeah”? What does it mean to you if you do? Share with me so I don’t become a bigger dork- I need to learn, teach me readers!
Other places I’m at:
