Wash your hands.

Wash your hands every day, multiple times a day. This is an effective way to keep germs and bacteria away which spread disease, lead to illness and sickness. It a simple practice, but I think we’ve all seen a person or two leave a public restroom without doing such. Kids are the worst culprits, they must continually be reminded to wash their hands. But when you wash, it is best and most effective when done with warm water. Warm or hot water kills the germs quickly in addition to the soap.  Warm water sanitizes.

Now think of the human heart. We need to cleanse it regularly. We must search our heart and invite our Maker to do the same. We must not be afraid or refrain from such a practice. It will free the heart, mind and soul of debris we may not have known was there. We will feel better to be rid of it, whatever it is that is clogging our spirit and affecting our health. Sometimes we need to find a trusted confidant and talk about it. Stuffing emotions down doesn’t help us get better or our heart to be healthier. Confession is good for the soul.

Take un-forgiveness as an example. A person who doesn’t forgive carries inside of them a spiritual vehicle for sickness and disease. There is science to support the roots of disease can be emotional side effects of not forgiving. But forgiveness doesn’t necessarily mean condoning behaviors of things that have happened to you. It’s just the releasing of them. But here’s a deeper truth I have come to know by the wisdom of my own life experience. Love is a potent disinfectant and healer. Love is warm, like the water we cleans our physical bodies with. Love is like a shower that empowers even the most leathery and hardened heart and equips it with a fresh start. Without love there is no healing. Without love the calm never comes. Without love peace is impossible. Without love all is void and disease of soul comes. Bear in mind, washing your hands with warm water doesn’t guarantee you won’t get sick, just as much, warm loving doesn’t guarantee a person will change or become healed. God is the conductor of it all. But when we love and show the warmth of kindness, we are vessels of God and can feel good and gain health in our own heart.

Love has the miraculous power to heal. Love can look many different ways. It can be a smile. A listening ear. Provision. Compassion. Empathy. Acceptance.

Love is and love can.

But where there is no real love nothing can stand. Love brings warmth to someone’s insides who maybe hasn’t felt warmth in a very long time. So even if you are doing, providing, working for the benefit of others, if it isn’t done with any warmth it may not be producing the results desired.

Love is patient.
Love is kind.
Love is forgiving.
Love is merciful.
Love is compassionate.
Love is considerate.
Love is sacrificing.
Love is enduring.
Love is so many things, yet most of all, love is all encompassing.

Love is. . .

“And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.”

1 Cor. 13:2