Love is a Choice

Pastor Micahn Carter preaches a great message in this video about love. Love is not just a feeling we have, love always requires action. It was a little uncomfortable to listen to this message because I could so clearly picture what God is asking me to give of myself during what's left of this year. It makes me a little nervous, because it will require sacrifice on my part. But God has given me everything I need in this life and more, so how can I not give to others what He is asking me to give.


We are all called to love God and to love our neighbor as ourself. Who is our neighbor? People who are hurting, people in need. Love isn't simply a feeling, to love is to do something for someone else. Love is a choice. Love isn't always going to feel good or look pretty, to love is to serve someone else by choosing to care for them when you didn't have to. Imagine how different our world would look today if we all decided to choose love. The needs in this word are many, but the people availbale on Earth who have the ability to love are also many. What if we decided to take on each new day not focused on serving our own interests, but focused on how we could love our neighbor each day.


We do alot of achieving and striving in this world but how much, in the end, is love? How much time on our weekly schedules is focused on loving others, versus striving for personal glory? We are all selfish by nature, none of us live lives that look the way we wish that they would look. But when we take the time to ask ourselves some difficult questions, and make changes to our schedules based on the answers, we will see growth every time. Love is a choice. What will you do for those who are in need this year? How will you love your neighbor?


Here's a few things that will not matter at the end of our lives: how much money we made, what title we had at work, how big our house was, how trendy our clothes were, how expensive the car was that we drove. What will matter in the end is how much we loved God and loved other people. "Love your neighbor as yourself" is all about us treating the stranger the same way that we would like to be treated. If that stranger was your son/daughter, how would you treat the person? Do that onto the stranger, your neighbor.

Applying The Weekend to Your Wednesday

3 Ways to Fight Commitment Issues

Deep and authentic relationships with people is what make us come alive and bring meaning to our lives. But to be able to have deep and meaningful relationships with others we have to be willing to commit to people. If you have been deeply hurt by people before it's understandable that you have commitment issues, but it's not possible to experience the joy of a deep relationship without commitment.

If we fail to commit to others our friendships and romantic relationships will stay shallow and ultimately be meaningless. Getting vulnerable with others is always scary, but on the other side of that challenge is the reward of joy and meaning. We are all called to love God and love people. It's impossible to really love people without committing to them.

The Workout

My favorite workout during the summer is swimming. I like to do a HIIT swimming workout just before sunset. I love doing swimming workouts in the lake because I prefer to do all my workouts outdoors. Lake Ontario and Lake Huron are my gym in the summer.

My workout routine has changed a lot over the years. In my early twenties my main motivation for working out was to lose weight or become fit, it was all about beauty. During my late twenties my motivation changed and became all about performance. My focus was on getting faster,stronger and better. I was focused on getting a better PR every year and winning medals. After getting injured a lot I decided I was done with trying to prove my worth through fitness and sports. It's astonishing what us humans will do to ourselves in the search for meaning and self-worth.


Today my motivation for working out is to take good care of my body. Some weeks I treat my body well, I eat healthy and reach my goal of four workouts per week. On other weeks I eat more cupcakes than green juices and do zero workouts. I have to admit that it was easier to find motivation to work out when what motivated me was fear of not performing well enough or fear of not looking good enough.


Today I'm very content with how I look and I no longer need to have a good PR to feel that my life has worth or meaning. The downside is that contentment sometimes leads me to choose watching TV over going for a bike ride. On the other hand, I still remember what it used to feel like to obsess about my level of fitness. A few years ago I used to work out 5-6 days per week, sometimes twice a day. Today I do 3-4 workouts per week (on a good week). I have a peace, joy and contentment about my body and performance level now that I never want to lose. My body and my strength are gifts to enjoy, but it's not what my body looks like or how fast I can run that gives me my worth as a human-being.


What can easily happen with things like a sport/fitness is that we make it the source that will give us our worth in life. We become addicted to the praise and approval we get from others when we look fit or perform well in a certain sport. But fitness isn't the only thing that can make us addicted when we start relying on it to give us our sense of self-worth. We can get addicted to things like our careers, our achievements, our social status etc. We get addicted to the approval we get from these things so we have to have them.


We know we have become addicted to something when without it we feel insecure, anxious and like we aren't good enough. Good things like our work, relationships, sports etc. have the power to enslave us if we start basing our identity on them. There is a big difference between being good at a sport and needing to be good at it constantly to feel good about oneself.

From Suicidal Thoughts to Fulfillment & Purpose

It's time to step into freedom

Sometimes, we get stuck — not just in a place — but in our own heads. But how can we follow our calling when we’re trapped inside our own minds? Learn how to escape the “stronghold” you’re trapped in and discover how God can use any situation as a setup for victory.

A Slow Weekend

The main event happening in Toronto during the weekend was the Taste of the Danforth in Greek town. It would have been fun to attend, but this weekend we felt like just taking it easy at our house. On Saturday we had a slow day at home and I was able to enjoy reading a book for a few hours. It was rainy on Saturday so it was a perfect day for summer reading.

Sunday was warm and sunny so after church we took a walk in the park and along the beach. I treated myself to a blueberry muffin and coffee for breakfast. My choice of breakfast during the weekends is all about enjoyment and not so much about health.

On Sunday Afternoon we packed our car full of bags and took a day trip to Cobourg beach. It became a wonderful slow weekend! Now it's only three weeks left of summer and I want to enjoy every moment of it! Today it's Monday and nothing exciting is happening. I think I will make some S'mores for dessert tonight, to make this average Monday a little bit more fun and enjoyable.