The bracelet on my arm...

I have a little bracelet on my arm that I wear always. It is a thin, sterling silver cuff with the words, "Love, Believe, Dream" inscribed on it.  I bought it to remind myself of those three most important actions... actions that make me a better person and my world a little bit brighter. Let me share with you what those three actions mean to me in my life...

Love

Love God, and His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ.  This is the single most important thing I need to do in my life. The Bible (God's Word) tells me to "Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart..." It is only because of His great love for me that I am able to love Him. This is the basis for all good things in life, the Love of God.  Without Him, there would be nothing- no earth, no sky, no ocean.. no me, and no you. God is my Creator, the lover of my soul. I don't deserve His love, I can't earn it. His love is a free gift to me, mine for the taking. Too often, I refuse His divine love by my doubt, unbelief, and human selfishness. God loves me anyway.. for this I am eternally thankful.  It is only through loving and receiving God's love that I am able to love myself and others...

Love myself... If I don't love myself, I am in effect calling God a liar. I am denying His great love for me. I don't mean that I'm a narcissist... just the opposite. With all humility, I love myself because my Creator loved me First! It is through allowing His love inside that I can love the person He created, with all of my human flaws- real and perceived.  Loving myself is a new thing for me. For most of my life, I did not love myself at all.  I allowed early life traumas, people's opinions, and that old enemy the devil, to cloud my vision of who I was and who I could be in God's perfect will.  I spent many years trying to change myself to conform to the world's view of who I should be... wasted, painful years. It was only when I truly sought God's will for me after my last divorce that I began to get a glimpse of who I was in God's eyes.  Seeing myself in His Eyes was equivalent to "looking in a glass clearly", and with that sight came acceptance of myself physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. I realized I am not and never will be perfect until I am in God's Presence in heaven. I also realized that ultimately, it is only God whom I need to please in this life... not my family, friends, or even myself... God alone.  This was such a freeing revelation! 

Love others... boy, this was and still is a hard thing to do!  There are so many things I do not like (loud, rude, fresh, disrespectful, disobedient...etc.) about people. I was so caught up in what I Didn't like that I often forgot that I don't have to like the action, but I must love the person. Jesus Christ taught us this when He said, "love thy neighbor as thyself".  What does it mean to really "love others"? Does it mean I must socialize with them, partake in their activities, agree with their decisions and beliefs? NO! Absolutely not! I, as a child of God, saved by the Grace of God and my Lord Jesus Christ, cannot betray His Love for the things of the world. I Can love the people behind those actions, words, and beliefs. This means, first of all, praying for their salvation if needed, sharing God's Word with them if the opportunity arises, and refraining from judging them. That is not my role, to judge, that is God's role and He can/will do it much better than I could hope to.  By loving the people of the world, I am allowing God's Love to shine through me... to light their world and show them Who He is... "The Great I Am". Everyday, I have to remind myself to love others. It is a continual battle, and my human weakness fails often. My job is to get back up, smile, and let the Divine Love of my Savior and my God to shine through me again, onto the people of the world....

Believe

Believe... in God, and in His only Son, Jesus Christ... again, this is the basis for believing in anything/anyone else - including myself. I must believe God... His Word, His Love, His Power, His Divinity, His Holiness, His Supreme Majesty over this world He created.  I must believe He is the Beginning and the End, the very essence of this world I live in... the One who thought me into being, Who breathed life into me, Who created the person I know as me...  Belief in my Creator allows me to see the world differently... through His loving eyes, albeit in a flawed, human way. Belief in His Son Jesus Christ, and in His death on a cross, burial in a tomb, and resurrection from the grave gives me Eternal Life. In the very core of my being I Believe In God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. This very basic belief stabilizes me and gives me a Firm Foundation to stand on, as well as a comfort in times of good and bad.  Believing God's Word gives me hope and guidance on this path I walk.  Without my belief in my all powerful, all knowing God, I would be lost and hopeless indeed... I could not go on.

Believe... in myself.  Not my human abilities necessarily, but in what God can do with my human weaknesses and flaws if I let Him. When I choose to believe that He created me for a purpose, and put me on a path toward an expected end, my future becomes brighter, my doubts and fears become smaller.  Seeing myself through His eyes allows me to truly believe "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."  When storms toss my ship, and tragedies rock my world, it is through my belief in God's loving care that I am able to also believe I will get through those times, with His great sustaining love to guide me.  When I believe in myself, I go from "I can't" and "I shouldn't try" to "I can" and "I will succeed" with God's help.  Everyday, I must get up and remind myself to believe in myself... a defeatist attitude only brings me down and blocks the path I am walking.  When I believe in what the power of God can do through me "nothing is impossible".

Believe... in others.  This takes a lot of love.. not my human love, but the love of Almighty God in me.  Often I find myself doubting others because I know that they are flawed humans just like me.  I don't trust them to do or act in certain ways, and I find myself becoming very negative and doubtful of others.  Recognizing these thoughts and feelings is the first step to changing them. When I understand that I am seeing through my human eyes and not the eyes of God, I can begin to change my vision and expectations of those around me. This does not mean I must blindly trust and believe in everything and everyone around me... it means I see them as God does, as nearly as I can, and that I trust God to work in them as He is working in me. Believing in my family and friends allows me to support them in their pursuits, cheer them on in their triumphs, help them when possible in their trials, and sympathize with their sorrows. Believing in others and what God can/will do through them opens up endless possibilities and brings about deeper, more meaningful relationships with the people God has placed in my world.

Dream

Dream... How sad that when we grow up, we often forget the beauty and inspiration of a dream, a goal, a possibility... As children, the world seems full of promise, and we often make statements of "when I grow up, I'm going to be.. or do... or go..."  Our journeys in life are often hard, filled with traumas, betrayals, and disappointments. We allow these things to cloud our vision, and our thoughts become jaded, bitter and hopeless. We no longer see the possibilities, we see only the stumbling blocks and obstacles in our paths.  God said to "renew our minds"... We do this by going back, to the place in our hearts, minds, and spirits where He is fresh and real to us.  I stumbled through most of my adult life seeing only the trials and duties I felt were obligatory, blindly shutting out my dreams... the dreams God Himself put in me when He created my innermost being.  We often confuse our dreams with His dreams, and go off on paths that aren't good for our well being. When we renew our minds, and begin again to see God's vision, our dreams will align with His plans for us, and it is then that our dreams can come true. These dreams from God's design for our lives are better than anything we could possibly imagine. Part of dreaming is action... a dream that exists only in the figment of our imagination does no good for anyone.  We must  step out in faith, knowing that His invisible hands are holding and guiding us when we abide in Him and He in us. I could dream all day long about getting in shape, but until I act on my dream, I will remain overweight and unhealthy. Dreaming does not mean walking around with our head in the clouds, ignoring reality and being oblivious to people/things around us. Our hopes and dreams must have a concrete foundation in our world, based in truth and merging with the Divine Thoughts of our Creator. God tells us in His Word, "I know the thoughts that I think toward you, ... thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end." (Jeremiah 29:11)  

When we seek the Lord with all of our hearts, accept His Love, learn to love ourselves and others, believe in Him, ourselves, and our fellow man, then we can truly Dream...

May God richly bless you as you Love, Believe, and Dream...