Tag: love

Returning to Our First Love

Posted on by Staci Mauney

“I [The Lord] have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.” (Jeremiah 31:3)

Valentine’s Day is upon us once again, and Cupid’s arrows are flying! This holiday is celebrated by those in love (and by those who love romance) and spurned by those who are single. However, in recent years, I’ve seen a rise in Galentine’s Day events, and I even coordinated one myself last year, to celebrate some of the wonderful women in my life. I applaud all those who have decided not to let Valentine’s Day define them by their relationship status.

For many years, I did not enjoy Valentine’s Day. Even when I was married, it was not a holiday I looked forward to due to the pressure that I put on myself—to find the perfect gift that expressed my love, to arrange a nice dinner out (knowing there would be a crowd, and I don’t like crowds), or to prepare a lovely dinner at home—an exhausting undertaking. As a single person, the pressure has disappeared, but reminders of my singleness are everywhere this time of year. Continue reading “Returning to Our First Love” →

Sharing the Love of Christ

Posted on by Staci Mauney

Do everything in love. (1 Corinthians 16:14)

The fourth Sunday of Advent symbolizes love. Did you realize that we have only one word in the English language to express the emotion of love? We use the word love to describe how we feel about pizza, our families, and our hobbies, among many other things.

The Greek language has at least six distinct words for love. Each of the six words represents a different type of love: philautia, the love of oneself; pragma, the type of love two people show when they’ve been married a long time; storge, the love between parents and children; philia, brotherly love or the love found between friends; eros, romantic love; and agape, the deepest, most abiding type of love. Continue reading “Sharing the Love of Christ” →

The Valentine’s Day Dinner

Posted on by Staci Mauney

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. (John 15:12)

Years ago, I attended a small Baptist church in my hometown. When I say “small,” I mean that we had about fifteen to twenty regular attendees. I was by far the youngest attendee—by about twenty years.

One year, the women of the church decided to hold a Valentine’s Day dinner. They fixed lasagna, salad, and breadsticks—yum.

But I wasn’t going to go. I thought it wasn’t for me because I was recently divorced, and honestly, the last thing I wanted to do was celebrate love.

Eventually, I changed my mind. I don’t remember who convinced me. Maybe it was my mom, or maybe it was my aunt, who played the piano at church and helped organize the dinner. Both of them knew I didn’t need to be sitting around by myself, moping the night away. Continue reading “The Valentine’s Day Dinner” →

For the Love

Posted on by Staci Mauney

For the Love

“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” (John 15:12)

Every February, I write about love. It’s only fitting to cover this subject during the month of love, right? For many years—going as far back as high school—I didn’t like Valentine’s Day. But as the years have passed, I’ve tried to drop my negative outlook look and find positive things about the holiday—namely, that there are many different kinds of love, all of which can and should be celebrated. Chief among them is the agape, unconditional love offered to us by God. And when we look to the source of love, our perspective can change. Continue reading “For the Love” →

The Lies We Believe

Posted on by Staci Mauney

God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. (Ps. 46:5)

I attended WriterCon, an annual writing conference, over Labor Day weekend. The speakers and sessions this year provided a wealth of information. Several stuck out to me—too many to list here, really. But the one on my mind today is the last session I attended on Sunday. Laurel Thomas taught about how writers can find their story’s theme by examining the lie their main character believes.

This doesn’t just apply to writing fictional characters. We are the characters in our own story, and we all believe lies Satan has told us. Some common lies we believe are that we are not good enough, we are not worthy, no one loves us, we have to be perfect, and we did too much bad stuff in our pasts for God to use us. Continue reading “The Lies We Believe” →