Beautiful are the feet of them that bring good news
Surely the gloom and darkness it moves
Watering the soul and bringing joy to the heart
Reminding within the waters to part.
I have often asked myself what kind of person do I want to be? The answers come from within the scriptures from words descriptive of love and charity (the giving of one self for the benefit of another). My brain automatically goes to the word love instead of charity which I always associate with a feeling but when I hear charity I think of it as a hand extending out to give without expecting a return. Charity is what was given to us when Jesus Christ displayed His love for his Father to be a sacrifice on our behalf and the Father's love for us in that He was willing to spare not His only Son. This is good news and it brings joy to my heart, brightens my day and parts that thinking that wants to be a barrier between me and the truth. We can have bad days but it doesn't matter how we feel because we can think greater than how we feel and DO greater than how we feel. We just need to train ourselves. This can be as simple as saying an edifying word to someone or leaving a kind note, not being reactive in a tense situation, intentionally reaching out to people, being thankful, edifying, praying, getting the focus off ourselves - allowing our actions to be motivated by the love of God for the benefit of someone else, even when the someone else is that "new man" in you. . . . and allowing Christ to be formed in us. I find such relief in knowing that even though I may not feel love, I can act charity out in simple ways, understanding more and more that it's not what you feel but it's what you believe and do that counts and the more we exercise God's love, the more natural it will become and we can bring good news to those in need and yes, even to ourself. Then the kind of person I can be is one that is filled with the love of God and not self. Remember to have grace with yourself, knowing that just because we feel something doesn't mean we believe it's true!
Charity suffers long and is kind, charity envys not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, does not behave itself unseemly, seeks not her own, is not easily provoked, thinks no evil, rejoices not in iniquity but rejoices in the truth.
1 Cor. 13: 4-6.