LIVLUVD

But because of His Great LOVE for us, 

God who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ, 

even while we were dead in transgressions- 

Eph. 2:4,5

Out for a six mile run in the civil war battlefield one sunny morning, 

I was almost home 

when I saw a car with a license plate that read 

LIVLUVD.

 It reminded me of a movie I had recently seen 

where the main character was grieving the death of his six year old daughter.

 Some time after her passing, he began writing letters. 

Letters to Love, Time, and Death. 

These were described as 'three abstractions' that are always with us;

 part of who we are. 

Interesting.

It is quite natural for us to think 

life begins with love, 

ends with death, 

and time is everything in between. 

 love+death+time=life 

Love is our friend, 

death is our enemy, 

and time....

well,

 we just don't know....

what to do with time. 

The message on the license plate is a good one. 

Makes me stop and think:

 LIVLUVD.

 Live LOVED.

Before our life began, 

before love,

 we have this life line, 

this cord, 

that feeds us, and comforts, and sustains. 

And when time is up, nature takes its course. 

Space is crowded, walls are thin, painful contractions 

deliver into the hands that cut the cord. 

Separated.

Death begins. 

Think about this for a minute.

 From the moment we are born, we are dead in our transgressions. 

Separated from life. Separated from God. 

And we spend our life striving to become more alive. 

Reaching for that cord. 

The cord that supplies the life blood. The scarlet cord of hope. 

Rahab dropped it from a window- 

giving hope to all who are separated- 

the scarlet cord that gave lifeblood to generations after her 

until the cord reached Jesus Christ, 

descendant of a prostitute, 

the Son of God, 

who bled his own lifeblood to be our life line. 

We reach for the cord-

 the bloodline of Jesus-

 and we find the way to life. 

New life. New love. 

And life begins.

We are delivered into arms that hold. 

And then there is breath. Oxygen filling lungs. 

Love filling hearts. Love begins. 

Days go quickly, trying to slow time down.

 Live for today.

 Enjoy the moment. 

There was a song I heard a few years ago. A beautiful song.

 Gentle sounds of the piano keys soothed my heart 

and I had to stop. 

To sit still and let the notes

 comfort my aching, closed up, broken heart 

that could barely beat anymore. 

As I listened, 

I became vulnerable, 

not expecting the words that came next. 

Their beautiful sound penetrated deep, 

ripping my very being into pieces as they said to me-

 'tell your heart to beat again'. 

Reminding me-

'you don't live there anymore'. 

But I didn't want to let go. 

Time had stopped.

I could feel myself breathing, but didn't feel alive. 

I knew then, it's not death 

that takes our breath away, it's life. 

To tell our heart to beat 

when life threatens to take our time- 

or is it time that threatens to take our life?-

I knew I needed the strength

of the arms that hold me,

the arms of LOVE.

We spend our life learning to love.

 Looking for love. Looking for God. 

God is love.

This is how God showed His LOVE among us: 

He sent His one and only Son into the world

that we might live through him. 

1 Jn. 4:9

And in the end, 

time begins.

If we have found love, we have found God. 

We leave this world 

for eternity, 

time, 

with no beginning and no end. 

So, when we stop to think

about how to LIVLUVD

could it be  

time is first, 

then life begins- 

with death, 

and we remain dead,

separated from LOVE 

until we become alive in Christ,

 alive in LOVE, 

and when we find LOVE, 

we are alive 

for eternity.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth, 

so Great is His LOVE 

for those who fear Him....

As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; 

the wind blows over it and it is gone, 

and its place remembers it no more. 

But....

from everlasting to everlasting 

the Lord's LOVE is with those who fear Him.  

Ps. 103:11-17