If only one...

I did a survey recently and one of the questions was, "If you could say just one thing for the rest of you life, what would it be?"

I was throughly enjoying my survey up until this question. I read it and stopped. I read the answer that the previous person had written: "love the sinner, hate the sin". No offense to the person who wrote that, but I knew instantly that "love the sinner, hate the sin" wasn't something I wanted to say over and over again for the rest of my life. You might be thinking "well, why Amanda? why wouldn't you want to say that?" good question, reader. The answer to that, is "love the sinner, hate the sin," is an action. Not something I would want to say.

So I just sat there. What WOULD I say, if only one thing, for the rest of my life? How would that one word, or one phrase affect everyone I came into contact with? How would that one word affect ME if it was the only thing I could say.

My first thought was "Jesus" but that might scare people away.
"Hi!"
"JESUS!"
"What?"
"JESUS!!!"
doesn't really work out that well. I love Jesus, don't get me wrong. And I want everyone to know and experience Him. But that, would just be a bit intimidating.

I sat some more, perplexed by this question of which I'm sure is no one else is contemplating and analyzing as much as I am.

At that moment a light of inspritation came over me. Not one of those lightbulb things. Oh no, this was big. It was more like...a lightning bolt.

1 John 4:7-12

"Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us."

And so I had decided. My words, if only one thing, would be, "I love you." I am fully aware, and should remind you as well, that love is not just words. But if I had only one thing to say, for the rest of my life, "I love you" would start the action that would follow. My life then, and how I lived it, would be defined by those three words. If my actions didn't meet up with "I love you", everyone would know it. Maybe that's how we should live.

"Hi."
"I love you."
"What?..."
"I love you."
"What do you mean?"
*action*

I love you.