Live what you love

I have this print hanging next to my bed. Lately I've been thinking about it, and what it means. At first thought, it's a given in our household. That kind of mentality inspired a career shift, brought us to California to live this summer, and hopefully means we'll live abroad one day. But living what you love is more than that. And I've been meaning to get to the bottom of it. Today it held my attention more than other days. Probably because it's the Christmas season, and hopefully we're all thinking about it a little more than usual. So in the spirit of the season, I thought I would share something I came across today.

I was reading one of the issues of our church's monthly publication, the Ensign. I opened it up randomly to a talk by one of our church leaders, Dieter F. Uchdorf, called "The Love of God." In this talk, he addresses the way we prioritize our lives. And, really, how we are living what we love. He says, "When we truly understand what it means to love as Jesus Christ loves us, the confusion clears and our priorities align. Our lives take on new meaning. Our relationship with our Heavenly Father becomes more profound."

Something else President Uchdorf said in his talk stood out to me. He was talking about the first great commandment: To "love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
"God the Eternal Father did not give that first great commandment because He needs us to love Him. His power and glory are not diminished should we disregard, deny, or even defile His name. His influence and dominion extend through time and space independent of our acceptance, approval, or admiration.

No, God does not need us to love Him. But oh, how we need to love God!

For what we love determines what we seek.

What we seek determines what we think and do.

What we think and do determines who we are—and who we will become.

Since the beginning of time, love has been the source of both the highest bliss and the heaviest burdens. At the heart of misery you will find the love of wrong things. And at the heart of joy, you will find the love of good things.

And the greatest of all good things is God."

"Live what you love" takes on a deeper meaning for me if I focus on this type of love. I move out of my small circle of day-to-day into something that is bigger than me. Hopefully during the holidays this year I can hang on to this message. Already I think I've done a bang-up job of avoiding the holiday rush at the malls, missing every single commercial on TV (thanks to Apple TV), and endeavoring to watch more movies like The Nativity Story with Finn. Isn't that always the goal? To have a quieter, more loving, meaningful holiday season? I've done most of my shopping online in order to avoid stores. I've even managed to make about half of my Christmas gifts, and purchase handmade half over again for the remaining. It has felt really good. Finn missed the entire lead-up from Thanksgiving to Christmas last year. We got home from the hospital with him only a couple of days before Christmas. So this year I am hoping it can be fun, special, and magical. Lots of Christmas carols. Promises of Granny and Grandad's big Christmas tree in Texas. Gifts for being such a good boy this year. The message of Christ's birth.

And love.