The 365 Love Well Project

I might come across as being adventurous and completely independent, but there are some things I don’t like to do alone — particularly doctor’s appointments. So, you can imagine my horror when I found out I needed to go to Mayo Clinic for a two-week physical therapy program. Alone. Without family, friends or any of the comforts of home.

“I don’t know if I can do this,” I told my husband.

He reassured me that I could and I would, and that everything was going to be just fine. Easy for you to say, I thought to myself.

Last Monday marked the start of that two-week program, and I’ll be honest with you — it’s been rough. But it’s also been full of some pretty wonderful God moments, and I’d like to share one of those moments with you this morning …

Exhaustion hit me by the end of day two. I desperately missed my husband. I missed my dog. I missed home. As I left the waiting room of the Mayo Building’s 14th floor, I knew I had two options:

1) Go back to the guesthouse and cry into a pillow until my lungs gave out.
2) Sit in the Mayo lobby, breathe, read God’s Word and pray.

My flesh wanted to go with option one, but I could feel the Holy Spirit guiding me toward option two. So, that’s exactly what I did. I took the elevator down to the lobby, plopped myself into a chair, closed my eyes and just breathed.

Open your eyes. I heard the Spirit say. 

And when I did, I was amazed at what I saw. Before I sat down, my focus was only on myself and my problems. Now I saw the lobby with fresh eyes. I didn’t just see and feel my pain, I saw hundreds of hurting people. Hundreds of people looking for HOPE. Hundreds of people looking for JOY. Hundreds of people needing PEACE. Hundreds of people just wanting to be LOVED and HEALED.Read More

If you’ve been following the blog recently, you know that my focus for 2017 is loving well. Last week, I wrote a blog post announcing the launch of the 365 Love Well Project — a year-long journey I created to help myself and others learn to love God, others and ourselves well.

Shortly after I felt God nudging me to do the #365LoveWellProject back in early January, a book publicist emailed me, asking if I’d review a new title that was coming out. As a Christian writer and speaker I have helped launch and write reviews for many faith books, so this did not seem too out of the ordinary for me. That was, until I read about the book I’d be reviewing.

John Hambrick’s Move Toward the Mess is a book about loving well and being the hands and feet of Jesus in a world that can otherwise be boring, routine and entirely self-serving. It’s the kind of book every Christian needs to read, but it’s especially the kind of book I needed to read as I began the 365 Love Well Project.

While reading Move Toward the Mess, I was deeply moved by John’s passion and dedication to the Great Commission and Jesus’ command to fiercely love others. John is committed to living for the cause of Christ. That means he’s committed to entering the messiness of this world, just like Jesus did. From inviting strangers and neighbors over for dinner, to getting to know the poor and marginalized, or even befriending prostitutes and addicts, John is not afraid to follow where Jesus leads. And he encourages the rest of us to do the same.

This is our chance to leave boring faith behind and embrace a different kind of life — the one we were meant to live.

“We have a chance to live as Jesus did,” John writes. “You and I might never be involved in commanding the wind to stop. But we could be involved in building houses for homeless people to protect them from the wind. We might never raise someone from the dead. But we might be able to help someone’s dead marriage come back to life. We might need more than five loaves and two fish to feed people. But we can still feed people in Jesus’ name.”

Wow guys. Talk about some pretty powerful stuff! John is so right about this one. We have a chance to live as Jesus did. But do we take that chance seriously? If you’re like most people — myself included — chances are you’d rather stay in your comfort zone where things are easier and safe.

Wherever you are in your faith journey, Move Toward the Mess will make you want to run straight out of your comfort zone and into the dark places that need Jesus.

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A few weeks ago, we talked about what to do when our faith needs a wake up call. But if you ask me, I think our faith isn’t the only thing that finds itself needing a wake up call from time to time. More often than not it’s our attitude that needs to be refreshed and realigned, too.

Instead of watching the ball drop this New Year’s Eve, I spent most of the night in bed nursing my fourth sinus infection of the year. (I’m getting surgery on Feb. 1 to fix this problem!) To the outside world I probably looked weak and pathetic, but if you could’ve seen the condition of my heart I guarantee you would’ve felt no pity for me.

I was livid. Thankless. Discontent. Indignant.

And yet, amid all of this fury I knew something wasn’t right. I knew I shouldn’t be feeling such wretched emotions. I knew I didn’t want to be feeling what I was feeling or thinking what I was thinking. But I didn’t do anything to shift my focus.

Seeing my despair, my husband offered me some of his nasal spray to help me breathe better. But while he meant this for good, it only made my symptoms worse. Within seconds of using the spray my nose and throat felt like they were on fire. My head and heart starting hurting. I lost my sense of taste and smell. And my mood went to a whole new level of crazy. I was having an allergic reaction to the medication.

I knew better, but in the heat of the moment, I didn’t think twice before opening my mouth.

“You did this to me!” I said to my husband. “This is all your fault.”

Oh, what love … or lack thereof in this case.

The most soul-crushing thing about NYE was that just a few days before I got sick, I decided that my focus for 2017 was going to be loving others well. Although it wasn’t 2017 yet, as I scolded my poor husband I couldn’t help but feel like I was already failing.

Thankfully, for you and me, God’s mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23). So on Jan. 1, instead of wallowing in shame, I came up with a tangible way to help me live out my focus for 2017. I’m calling it the 365 Love Well Project, or, #365lovewellproject on social media.

We were created by love, from love, for love, but that doesn’t mean loving others is always easy, or a priority, for that matter.

I believe this is because we live in a fallen world — a selfish, “what’s in it for me?” world where we’ve been conditioned to put our needs before the needs of others.

But it’s never too late to turn all of that around. It’s never too late to learn how to love well.

That’s where the 365 Love Well Project comes in. For 365 days I’m committing to love others, God and even myself to the best of my ability. Practically speaking, here’s what the project has looked like in my day-to-day life so far:

• Every morning when I wake up, I thank God for another day to live. I pray for friends, family, my community and the world. I look in the mirror and remind myself that I am a Positively Lovely daughter of God — a beautiful masterpiece who was created on purpose for a purpose.
• Every morning and night, I spend 10 minutes reading and meditating on love-focused Scripture.
• Every day, I take care of my body and work to keep my heart, words and thoughts pure.
• Every day, I try to make people a bigger priority than what’s on my phone.
• Every day, I look for opportunities to love others in a unique and personal way.
• Every night, I journal about what God is teaching me about love and how I chose to love others and myself well that day.
• The last thing I’m doing is a secret that I will reveal at the end of this year … so stay tuned!

I’m sharing this with you today because, if you’re interested or maybe feel God nudging you, I want to invite you to join me on this 365 Love Well Project. No matter how much we try to put others first, there is always an opportunity to love better, deeper and wider because we are called to love like Christ. And I don’t know about you, but my love is nowhere near Christ-level yet. I have some growing to do. We all do.

One day at a time, we can learn to love God, others and ourselves well. But it takes a lot of intentionality on our part.

Over the next year, I will be posting about my experiences with this project here on the blog and on social media via #365lovewellproject. Whether anyone joins me or not, I don’t know. But I do know this: my heart will be forever changed by this journey, and I’m so excited to see what God will do along the way.

I long to love others well. To put others before myself. Not just sometimes but always. This is what I want for my life. What about you? If you’re raising your hand in agreement, will you invite your friends to join? Your Bible study group? Maybe even your family? You don’t have to start the project on Jan. 1 for it to make an impact in your life. You can start it any day of the year.

If you haven’t subscribed to the blog, be sure to subscribe today so that you can stay updated on what’s happening with the project throughout 2017.

XOXO, Lauren