Lessons of Love

I think the most misinterpreted question that has plagued us as a people is "What is Love?". Many people use love as a vice or as a barometer to depict how much another person cares for them. Some are consumed with it and allow it to control their lives. Others just plain dont believe in it. Yesterday the name of the sermon was "Lessons in Love". So it got me to thinking what role does love play in my heart and my actions with people around me. Ironically on our way to church Amaya started acting up so I popped her leg. She cried for about a minute and I eventually turned around and told her that I loved her. Without a hick up she gave the sign for love. It actually made my heart melt.... Here it is I just disciplined her and without hesitation she shows me love; literally.
Why are children so smart but adults are so dumb? Are children closer to God than we are? Do we grow up and loose the amazement of the "7 wonders of the world", the "mystery in magic", or the "God-like love"? God teaches us the love is action not a word. God so loved the world that he gave (action) us his only son. Even Janet said "what have you done for me lately?"...haha. All jokes aside do us as adults loose the highlights of our spirit to only become these programmed individuals that spend so much time guarding ourselves from true love?
To find true love is not an act of receiving it. Its an act of giving it; boundlessly. Look at the way we love our children (well some of us). We love them unconditionally. So why do we place conditions on the people that helped us to make those little ones that remind us of love everyday? Why does love get lost in the shuffle of life? Why does love just become a cool song or a sensual fling in a summer night? Why does love get boxed in between Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter? Why dont we love all the time? Why do we gamble with love? Why is it that when the loss of love is finally upon us we finally "straighten" up and want love to comfort us? We all do it, we all will continue to do it. My question is why.
The pastor had a great analogy of the love for God. See we walk around with our love for God as if it were a ticket. Yes our ticket into glory but we just treat it like an old ticket in our pocket. Why dont we covet that ticket? Why dont we look at the ticket everyday?
So here are the 4 points that the pastor discussed as the "Lessons of Love":

• Love reconciles (1 Corinthians 13:5)
• Love connects (loves moves us towards one another)
• Love serves (love is measured by the way we serve others and God)
• Love sacrifices (the greatness of love is determined by how much you are willing to sacrifice)

"Loose to become a blessing"...

All in all love is a constant in the world. It's like the air we breathe, its 2nd nature. But why isnt it 1st nature? Looking at my life I am tired of people telling me they love me and not showing me. Last night I watched the 1927 rendition of the novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin". If you havent seen it I would urge you to find it and watch it. It shows you the misperceptions of love and more so how "we" were viewed then and even sometimes now. But overall the movie was a silent movie. Think if we have to go 1 day with silence. Could some of us even know how to show love? Or are we so use to saying it and not doing it. I will leave you with a short video of Amaya showing her mom that she loves her....PRICELESS

Daddy Daycare: Canadian Edition 3

Once again it rained all day yesterday so the threat of cabin fever loomed over the Stephens household. Luckily for me it was Sunday so off to church we canoed...or drove..haha. We finally got there about 20 minutes late but as my mom use to say back in the day 1 minute in church is worth more than 1 minute in the world. After church we got home and I had plans of doing something else with the girls but mother nature had other plans in mind (constant rain) so we just stayed inside and: wrestled, colored, watched Dora, and ate. It was a nice ending to an otherwise hectic weekend.

Amaya dancing to MJ. His music is timeless!!

Daddy Daycare: Canadian Edition 2

Well as the weather experts promised it rained ALL DAY today. And anyone who has children knows that a child with cabin fever is a parent pulling their hair out. A great remedy for a rainy Saturday was the Dallas Museum of Arts and Sciences. Your next question might be "Shawn that is for older kids" but my immediate response would be "do your homework". This museum has a children's museum (ages 0-7) that has a ton of things for the little ones to get into (a water room, a fake farm, imax, and a fake tunnel to simulate being a prairie dog). Amaya had the time of her life. There was one point when we were in the farm section and the key was to grab a sack and collect veggies; similar to what farmers do. Well Cheeky decides that the fake fruit would be much better used as a dodgeball and commences to throwing the veggies at other kids. Needless to say this started an uprising and before I knew it all of the kids were throwing fake veggies EVERYWHERE...haha. In the water room Amaya almost jumped all the way in the water! in the IMAX room Amaya decided that she wanted to get up and leave the theatre. And throughout all of this Zoe was as content as could be. In the end Amaya had a great time doing what she loves to do: yell, run, and just be a fun-loving little girl.
Overall today was a very long day. But no matter how difficult at times it was I enjoyed every minute of it. My advice is never let the rain wash your fun away....

Daddy Daycare: Canadian Edition 1

Well Melissa is off to her annual ICMA conference this year in Quebec, Canada. So ya'll pray for me as I endeavour upon taking care of the girls for the next 6 days solo. Tonight was a pretty easy night, in that daycare took care of the divas for most of the day. I picked them up around 5pm and they both were in good spirits. Amaya has been battling a bad eczema outbreak (oral and topical meds) and Zoe is battling a bad eye cold. With that said the night went fairly well. Both girls are down and its just a little past 930pm. Not sure what I will do with them over the weekend especially considering that its raining here nonstop. Actually its supposed to rain here all weekend. All in all I love these moments that I have with my girls. They are unequivocally the love of my life and I cherish the time that I have with them. God thank you.