Hey Gardeners—happy December! We’ve made it to 12 out of 12! Man, this year has been amazing! There are so many things to be grateful for and proud of, but I want to talk about something that came to me today while working on this month’s Bible plan—“Loving Your Neighbor”—yep, you guessed it: I want to talk about LOVE.

Now, here is where I should play Keyshia Cole’s “Love. ” We can reminisce about the times we put love first, and it didn’t pan out, but this isn’t that type of party. 😂 No, I want to go deeper than that—that surface-level infatuation or that casual “You know I love you.” I want to talk about the love God has for us since the beginning. Yep, even before Christmas.

Let’s go…

How would you define love? I love a good definition, so I searched for one, and the results were interesting. Answers ranging from adoration to Cupid, I decided that putting a concrete “love is” might not be as easy as I thought. We know love as an emotion—a feeling that comes over us when we think about certain people. Sometimes, the love that we feel is current. A vibrant mix of sunsets and sunrises, warm hugs and kisses. Other times, love is grief. Grief is wrapped in memories and wishes for more time to be shared. Love can also be hurtful—disappointments from a failed friendship, relationship, or general connection.

I want to talk to you about love as an action—a doing—something to be felt and seen. So before I can get into the action of love, I want to talk about Romans 5:8.

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We know the backstory: God sent His son, Jesus, to live, die, and rise again for our sins. But do we see the action behind that? I will admit that I did not when I was younger. I did not understand why God would do that or why Jesus would endure that, but now, in my thirties, I am happy to report that I fully understand the who, what, when, where, and why.

L O V E.

God loves us so much that not only did He send His baby boy, but that baby decided it would be best if He died for our sins. Even though we weren’t living right, He paid the cost so we would have time to get it right with God. That is the action of love. Doing for others despite the logistics or the fallout, just doing it because that’s the right thing to do. It sounds easy, but we know human nature and feelings, so often, it’s hard to come to love from God’s perspective. It’s in those moments where our emotions win that we halt love. But how?

We halt love when we focus on what someone is doing or not doing. When we focus on the pain of a disagreement, distance, or anything not of God, pain becomes the focus, and our actions can be rooted in that pain and fear instead of the love that God says lives inside of all of us. One thing that I have had to learn over these past two years is how to forgive myself for operating out of a place of pain. I’m sure you thought I would say others, and yes, I have also worked on forgiving them, but introspection is beautiful. We’ve chatted a lot this year about identity and how important it is to find it for yourself. When we center our identity on things outside of our God-given purpose, we halt the love and care that God wants us to focus on, and it can lead to something even scarier: we can start to feel abandoned by God.

What do I mean by that?

I was listening to Megan Ashley’s “In Totality” podcast, episode 57. She discussed a spiritual drought and how the enemy can convince us to feel forgotten by God. She explained that we can get so caught up in doing and expecting that instant reward that when it doesn’t happen, we start to feel used by God, but not in a good way. From there, I started reviewing that within my life and realized she was right. There have been times when I thought I was doing “good work,” and I wondered why God hadn’t stepped in and changed my circumstances. Then I had to address the more significant issue—did I do those good deeds as an act of love for God, or was it part of my “I am a new Christian in Christ” package?

When I go back to love, and it being an action, that’s the key. Is love the motivator for my actions? Will my love for God show through my actions? Because at the end of it all, if it’s not rooted in God’s love, then it will not matter. The holidays are hard for me. It’s no secret that I have not been the same since my grandmother completed her earthly journey, but the love that I have for her has not gone away, and I know without any doubt she would want me to continue to live.

She would want me to make the time to do all the things I love to do and the things we loved to do together. I told myself this season to let my actions reflect love. To speak life into me so that the enemy does not have me working on its behalf—selling myself lies that keep me rooted in pain and responding from a place of lack. I do not have to feel forgotten by God because, according to Romans 5:8, Jesus died for me, knowing my struggles, fears, and everything in between.

I want you to remember that love is an action—a doing that we must choose not only for others but also for ourselves. Love is abundant because it comes from God, who never lacks in anything He provides. I pray you all have a wonderful Christmas, and I will see you in 2025!

Take care,

Tori B. 💕🌻