I’m not the first to say, “love is an action word.” I’ve heard it from motivational speakers, marriage resources, and sermons. It means that in relationships, love is not just a feeling. It is something you do. Actively. It takes effort. It’s not passively sitting back and waiting. It is contributing. It is taking action.
Love can be a noun or a verb. Love as a noun is a thing. It the object of one’s admiration. Love as a verb is an action. It is holding, feeling, and cherishing. Desiring actively.
God created us to love. He is love. He embodies love. He loves us so much that He was willing to give us His Son. He is the object of our admiration. He is tender toward us, and we can have a tenderness for Him. God wants us to love. To love Him, to love each other, to love everyone. To be loving. To personify love. To show affection. To desire actively Him as well as each other.
“My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can’t know him if you don’t love.” ~1 John 4:7 (The Message)
I’m not always good at it. Actually some days I’m really bad at it. But I think it is important to be all the kinds of loving. To God, to my husband, to my children, family, friends, and strangers. To be warm toward others. To be physically affectionate. To treasure others. To adore and appreciate others. Even on the days that it seems clunky, and messy, and not at all like love in the movies. Or sitcoms on TV. On the days, especially on the days, when it is difficult. To love. Always to love.
In 2019 as I strive to amplify all things good in my life. God, my marriage, my relationships with family and friends, and everything. I want to amplify love. Amplify love given and shared. And even amplify love received. To recognize even the smallest gestures as love, to never be too busy or distracted to notice love. And to never be too busy or distracted to be loving. To everyone. To give those around me both the noun version and the action version of love. Sometimes messy and unmastered. But always love. Amplified.
Unmastered 
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