live and love

The sun has recently come out here in Seattle.  After the wettest rainy season in Seattle's recorded history, it's safe to say we are all letting out a sigh of relief.  It's amazing what a little sunshine and vitamin D will do for your soul.  I feel infused with life and hope.  Thankful that seasons change as all things do.  Thankful for new growth and the miracle of flowers pushing up through the soil and unfurling their colorful faces to bask in the sun as well.

I'm struck by the overflow of gratitude in my heart for things made new.  Struck by how much greater that gratitude is because darkness and rain covered us for months and months.  The light is brightest coming out of the dark.

Yesterday, we opened our windows and our back door, played in the backyard, barbecued dinner.  These simple acts reminding me that it is here that we live and love.  We blow bubbles and jump rope and laugh and eat berries and it is sweet balm to our spirits.

Those two words live and love.  They are interconnected.  You can't do one without the other.  If you are living, love abounds.  And if you are loving, life abounds.  Profound yet simple.

Whenever, I type the word love on my phone, it autocorrects to the word live.  This used to annoy me until I started thinking, "What if that were true?"

I love sunshine.
I live sunshine.

I love my kids.
I live my kids.

I love Jesus.
I live Jesus.

If I'm loving something, am I living it out?  Am I fully present?  Do I give it my all?  Soak it in?Breathe gratitude?

And alternatively, if I'm living something, am I loving?  Do I look for opportunities to engage and to encourage?  Do I find the good and joy and focus on that as I live my days, hours, moments?

It's amazing how the tilt of the earth, the parting of clouds, and the promise of all things made new coming to fruition in front of my eyes changes perspective.

So, go out today and live and love.  Love and live.  Blur the lines between the two and see what happens.