Increase Love

"... hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown." Revelation 3:11

In my experience, every day gets harder to live out your Christian faith... the older you get. I always thought it would get easier but it does not. The good news is that some things get better. For me, the one thing that gets continually better is the application of one Scripture to another. If I think of a warning that scares me I find the answer to that warning on another day... all in the Scriptures. These lovely and surprising reassurances are built on a day to day reading of the Scriptures and just when I express a fear, to myself, a few hours later I get the reassurance that I needed even though I have already forgotten what that fear was.
I think that is the rhythm of the walk that gets easier with the continual practice of the studying.
I am very much a 'what is the answer to that' kind of person. I do not like problems without answers yet I have seen world problems, these last few years, that seem very difficult to ascribe answers to. This concerns me. I pray for leaders and I believe everyone should.
Lately I have felt mostly pain and I do not like this at all because we all live in this world where we want love to be increasing. Most people would still agree that an increase of love will bring a decrease in the negative powers... and there is quite a list of those.
There is good and bad in the spiritual realm and I pray, without ceasing, that the good prevails. It is for the good of all mankind that anyone does this type of work. There is no monetary reward for this... you and I are making our crown for eternity with this work... the betterment of a world for mankind.
The stresses of day to day living wears on people. Sometimes I hear it in shouting that comes from outside. That's loud shouting. The stresses of living... others are feeling them too. This last week I went for a drive and I saw only one person who was smiling and genuinely so it seemed to me with the passenger he had in his vehicle. It was so noticeable. It was beautiful to see because it did not look fake. I need a ton of encouragement each day to keep believing that I will get a job. Looks hopeless most days. I take responsibility for encouraging myself by reading books that encourage. Hard work encouraging oneself; but necessary. Sometimes I unplug my internet for most of the day. There is so little to encourage me there. One man I listened to last year said he doesn't even open his emails first thing in the morning because there is mostly only bad news in them... I paid close attention to that afterwards and barring a short exchange of love letters this last year... there really was not any good news in those emails. Just information. Information is not good news... it is something you are required to do something with. Work, it is just work.
Currently, I do not have a confidante but I read in a book, this week, that you are lucky if you have even a few of these throughout your whole lifetime. Someone who is always on your side and wants the best for you.
There was one honest conversation that I had a couple of weeks ago... a spontaneous interchange while I was shoveling, that got me thinking about intimacy as a woman who experiences much loneliness. I thought, surely most other people feel more connected than I do but... this person said, no, feeling connected in the church was not an overwhelming feeling for that family either. So, it is my belief that every person must increase love,... through prayer is the way I do this every day. I encourage you to do the same.