...Tomorrow is not promised, so today...Forgive as much as you can...Love as much as you can...

...Tomorrow is not promised, so today... ...Forgive as much as you can... ...Love as much as you can... ...Show compassion, care, and concern as much as you can... ...Not just to your own, but others... ...Not just to others, but your own... ...Tomorrow is not promised, so today... ....As much as you can...

This is the first quote in my journal, ‘As It Flows From My Heart…Journal…What’s In Your Heart?' As I read over it this morning, it reminded me…once again…that forgiveness…with the heart, not just the mouth…is the prerequisite for really being able to love with the kind of love that God has outlined in His instructions for us.

When I was younger, my parents taught me to love everybody. I used to wonder, how do you love people who you don’t even know…and certainly…how in the world do you love people who the enemy, himself, seems to have enlisted for the specific purpose of destroying you spiritually and, sometimes, even physically.

What spiritual growth has taught me is…the source of my parents’ teaching. They taught me what was expected, according to their beliefs…they showed me, by example, how to forgive and love…for real…showing compassion, care, and concern…not just to their own or just to others…but to all. Their teaching was the foundation…but my own life choices and the experiences that God has allowed me to go through have resulted in God’s provision of the answer to my childhood wonder:

My parents could love the way they did because of the God kind of love that dwelled on the inside of them…now I understand how you can love people you don’t know…and even those that seem to have been assigned by the enemy to destroy you…I know now…it’s not something that my parents could or you and I can do on our own…it’s a spiritual thing…now I know...and so I can...love as much as I can...because I have learned to forgive as much as I can, today...because tomorrow is not promised...