a few thoughts about setting priority boundaries and about LOVE

I was talking with my son last night, I said that it seems as soon as you decide to put up certain boundaries to preserve time and energy for the priorities, that it gets even harder to maintain those boundaries.  After I expressed the silly supposition that once you set a priority or boundary, it seems the whole world conspires against maintaining that priority or boundary.  My son pointed out something that should have been obvious to me.  It is not as I supposed (I knew that by the way) rather we KNEW ahead of time that the demands of certain things are and would be increasing and that is why we set the boundaries, so the after affect of the increase in competition "against" our set priorities and boundaries is simply the confirmation that we discerned correctly that we needed to establish certain priorities and boundaries.  I really like the reliable truth and encouragement in that 

It was really good to catch up with my son last night.  I even got to speak with his girl friend.  


It is LOVE week ... the week of Valentines Day.

For me Love is paramount.  I was asked to explain what "love" is in my statement and stumbled at bit at first.  The one sentence answer is the Love of God made manifest in the lives of others.  However, with so many different religions and so many Christian denominations we have to explain this.  "Love is paramount" is best explained by a couple of selections from the bible, added all together.
[ I Corinthians 13, Romans 12, John 6, John 14, 15, & 16, Matthew 22:37-40, Galatians 6:1-10, Romans 13:8-10, Matthew 25:31-46, and more ] It is all of these interconnected things  - Paramount Love is:  (1) the deep and powerful sacrificial Love of God (unto salvation and sanctification), (2) the love of the brethren; redeemed children of God loving each other in peace, unity, one accord, sacrificially (3) the love of God and sincere love of the children of God toward all others, neighbors, strangers, enemies, etc expressed through the sharing truth of the good news of the Gospel, and through sincere compassion driven acts (and words) of help and kindness.  (A) If we have not LOVE we are nothing.  For as faith without works is dead, so accomplishments without love is emptiness and vanity  (B) It was love that motivated God to create and to save, it is His love that drives justice, it is His love that is the authority, and is the power to life and godliness.  Love is paramount. Greatest of all the things that will remain is Love.
paramount
adjective
1. Of chief concern or importance / Most important, influential, or significant
2. Supreme in rank, power, or authority. / Exercising controlling power or influence
noun.
One that has the highest rank, power, or authority.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I have been contemplating boundaries around time and energy ... PRIORITIES ... speaking of which I need to stop journaling my thoughts and get ready for work etc... so that I can take care of my responsibilities so that I have time to take care of my priorities.

NOTE:  part of who I am, is contemplative.  (that is very poor grammar but I am going to leave it for now)  I guess I have always had this "bent".  I look for and find meaning and lessons in everything.  For me there is nothing that is just in my life for no reason.  I observe, and then try to learn from everything.  An out growth of this side of me is the "diagnosis and treat" part of my character.  I process things though words.  Those who know me, know I often need to talk things through and that my first words are often me just sorting through all of the thoughts, reactions, emotions, etc.  The first part of talking it out is like taking large samples of stuff and throwing it all in one pile then starting to sort it though.   The first thoughts and words ARE NOT a reflection of any conclusion about anything, and no one should consider that I actually think that my first words, suppositions, etc are TRUTH in an unto themselves.  As I talk, I work through all that.  In the end, there is a (usually) a conclusion/determination of some sort.  Journaling is actually a lot more effective for me than talking it through (journaling with the keyboard that is).  I sit down and just let the words flow through my fingers.  Then I can go back read reword edit and finally make some sense of whatever it is I am processing, usually with a conclusion of some sort.  It also gives me the ability to go back and re-read later, to contemplate later, and to meditate on certain things, so that I can live these things out (these life lessons, these things I determine to be priority in my life, etc).  If we don't live out effectually what we believe than are words are just EMPTY words, no matter how well stated and supported or argued.  So "putting it in writing" then sits in a place of personal priority for me.  Which explains why I am sitting here at the computer thinking and journaling when I should be feeding ducks and getting ready to go to work.
 (most of this "NOTE" is process, and I don't have of time to fully sort these thoughts ... so this will be "published" as is.)