Lead With Love
I had the pleasure of seeing Musiq Soulchild in concert to end my 50th birthday celebration. He has written one of the greatest gospel songs ever: Love. The record label did not want to add a gospel song to the album, so Musiq Soulchild changed the word “God” to “Love” in the song. I guess the record label executives didn’t know that changing those words would not change the fact that it is a gospel song. (I could write a whole article on this fact alone, but this isn’t what this article is about.) The line in the song that touches my heart the most is, “Love, for better or worse, I still will choose you first.” Just sit for a moment and breath that in.
It’s February, and many have failed to keep those New Year’s resolutions. Some of you may have lost the conviction you felt when you created that vision board. Well, I am here to help.
Jesus taught us that the greatest commandment is to love. We are to love God and love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Loving God is not the commandment most people have a problem with; we fall short of loving ourselves and our neighbors. Once I got the revelation that God is the everywhere, equally present Spirit of Absolute Good living inside each of us, it was easier to love myself and my neighbors.
You may be wondering how this will help you with your resolutions. Studies have shown that the most common resolutions are losing weight, eating healthy, and exercising more. Studies also show that less than ten percent will achieve these goals. Many of us could indeed stand to lose weight, but most of our desire to lose weight is because we do not love ourselves. And some of us choose unhealthy foods to eat for the same reason. When we choose to love ourselves, making healthier food choices, eating in moderation, and even exercising become easier. Also, loving the bodies that we currently have is vital to weight loss. Therefore, choosing love first will help us get to a healthy weight.
Loving ourselves can also help us to see the manifestation of our vision boards more quicker. Many of the goals on your vision board require a belief in yourself that you will not have if you do not first love yourself. And for those of us with BIG SCARY AUDACIOUS GOALS, we will need the help of others to see them manifested. We have to love others to trust them with our dreams. We may even have to use love to forgive someone who God wants to use to manifest that vision.
February is the month we celebrate love, so I implore you to lead with love when it comes to your goals for 2023. I also ask you to lead with love to help those around you come to know God as love. If you call yourself a Christian or a believer in God, please STOP judging folk and damning their souls to hell. Jesus built His entire ministry on LOVE, so maybe it is time for the saints to lead with love and leave the rest up to God.
Love & Blessings,
Dr. Raykel Tolson