The Soultown! Volume III: Issue 2 FEBRUARY 2019 | Page 21

FAITH ENTHUSIAST The Month of Many Loves WATERLOO, IA - February is the shortest month of the year but I believe February comes second only to the month of December in bringing people together in acts of love. The very thought of February raises the level of the human experience to the idea of receiving love with someone apart from ourselves. And since God is love, the idea of being relational with another person is a God idea. John the Beloved wrote that perfect (or mature) love removes fear. Fear and the absence of love confines restricts and ultimately constricts living life to its fullest. Yes, February is the coldest month of the year but look at the love that is found even in the most frigid of weather. You see, the February cold holds moisture that has been received from above in various forms of precipitation into the ground in preparation for the planting season of Spring. The ground has been sealed! Think about it – the qualities of that which has come from above are now held in the ground below. Another positive of the cold of February is that the cold itself destroys the germs that have remained in the ground from the past year’s harvest. Yes, Spring is coming as the earth approaches closer to the sun in earth’s orbit around the sun. The act(s) of Nature is an act of Divine Love. The Word also says that ‘love covers a multitude of fault’. Love has the same effect as a covering for the person receiving love. Love allows us to dream again because of its radiance. With radiance comes the expectancy of something even better. To say that we love someone is to say that we are allowing that person to see into our lives… to “into me see”! INTIMACY Intimacy is knowing another person at the level that reveals internal fears, desires, dreams, and ambitions. You might ask, “what fear or fears?” The answer, the fear of being rejected or even unlovable if our true self were to be uncovered. And in reality, there can be no intimacy “ into me see” without the desire to love or even to be loved. Love, whether it be agape, phileo, eros, ludus or storge is the ability see another person(s) as separate and distinct who may not possess your qualities but yet love worthy. I have lived in this world a few moments so I do know that people, even those who we love dearly, do not reveal the depth of theirs in one brief moment or so easily. For most of us, even those who we are in love with takes a considerable amount of time. Maybe that is why the marriage vows says, “till death doth us part”. In this life, we desire the love of God (agape), the love of romance (eros), the playful love of children (ludus), the love that bond believers together (storge) and the love of true friends (phileo). Thank you, February, for your many loves. I am Dr. David Rainey, Faith Enthusiast and on behalf of The Soultown, we thank our Creator for sharing SOUL! , © 2017 Digital & Print Magazine CONNECTING OUR CULTURE TO OUR CYBER & CONSCIOUS COMMUNITIES DR. DAVID RAINEY FAITH ENTHUSIAST IOWA [email protected] thesoultown.com See what’s happening in thesoultown.com! THESOULTOWN.COM • CELEBRATING 2 YEARS OF CONNECTING OUR CULTURE TO OUR CYBER & CONSCIOUS COMMUNITIES • FEBRUARY 2019 21