Unexpected Inspiration from a Target Run

I had a few errands I needed to run yesterday with my 4 year old in tow. "Hmm, I need greens and apples and things for easy lunches, I guess I should go to the grocery store..." I thought gloomily. And then suddenly, the light dawned as I remembered a new key piece of information. "I need a birthday present! I better run to Target instead!" Don't tell me I'm the only one who does this?

Thirty minutes later, my son and I are happily cruising the aisles of the newly remodeled Target, so aesthetically pleasing and perfectly laid out for the mom stroll. Coffee in hand, we effortlessly get our groceries and pick out a gift for this weekend's kid birthday party. My youngest is happily exploring the aisles alongside me, coasting along on a borrowed skateboard from the toy aisle. Life is good. We stroll by the clothing section and I see a sweatshirt that calls my name. It looks so cozy, so inviting. I better go try it on. And do you know what, it was perfect! Into the cart it went on this happy target trip, one that had now turned into our morning outing on a drizzly cold day.

My new sweatshirt, so warm and freshly fuzzy inside, has the words "RADIATE LOVE" across the front. I had walked through Target several times before and thought , "I like that shirt" but the Target magic was not in full effect on those days. For some days you have the opposite Target effect working against you. On those days you walk through the store calling for your three kids to follow you, to please hurry up. You tell them we are not buying toys, we are not getting things from the dollar section unless they want to spend their own money, but apparently you sound like the Charlie Brown mom to them. Strangely they cannot decipher your words. Instead they hear, "yes, you can all get toys, pick out your favorites and get attached because I am buying everyone whatever they want today!" Those days there is no coffee, no trying on sweatshirts, and by the time you get out of the store you are hanging on by a very thin thread. Those are the sad Target days.

But back to happier times...ah yes, my new sweatshirt! Radiate Love. I was drawn in by the message. This was more than just a cute pattern, it was a challenge, it was a "day changer" kind of shirt. For you know ahead of time you cannot yell at your kids in public on a day when you are wearing a "Radiate Love" shirt (not that I ever do that anyway of course...) You cannot nag them at home or the words may potentially burn into your chest. This sweatshirt, cute as it is, is also much more...it is a challenge, it is a calling.

So what do those two cutely fonted words across my sweatshirt mean?

Radiate.

To emit in the form of rays. To give off/out, send out/forth. To project. To shine brightly.

To diverge or spread from or as if from a central point.

The word radiate is relatively easy to define. To radiate is to shine or to emit something. What you radiate comes from your center, it is projecting what is deep inside if of you. It is not mustered up and produced on the outside but rather revealed from the inside. It is what is inside of you coming out; what spirit we give off, what message we send out to the world, to our friends, to our family, to our neighbors. We will radiate what we are, we will shine what is within us, what is at our center.

So what will we radiate?

Will we radiate busyness? We all know those people (and sometimes we are those people). We are running running running. Never time to slow down or rest, no time to stop and listen. No time to enjoy the gifts that are in front of us or the season that we are in, no time for our schedule to be interrupted, there is just too much to do...

Will we radiate perfection? If we just keep trying harder, we can get that image just right. We can do it all right, have the perfect home, the perfect family, the perfect figure, the perfect wardrobe. A little more effort, a little stricter regimen, then we can win the approval of God and all those around us when we finally get it right.

Will we radiate conflict, will we radiate sickness, will we radiate disappointment, will we radiate fear? Or will we radiate love?

Now love, love is harder to define.

Love.

An intense feeling of deep affection.

A great interest or pleasure in something.

To like or enjoy very much.

Love, what a word for a concept that can be so lighthearted and so deep at the same time. I love my sweatshirt and I love my husband. I love to go for walks, I Iove a good book, I love my children. How does one tackle the definition of love? Yes, it is to like something, to take pleasure in something, to feel deep affection. But it is also more, it is deeper. (To be fair, the definition above was not the exhaustive list from the dictionary but a few of the many bullet points trying to capture this word and concept.)

Love is a commitment to something. It is intentional and active. It is others focused. While love can be a warm fuzzy romantic or sentimental feeling, it can also be choosing to love when you may not feel it. It is an action. It is sacrificial. Love is giving over receiving. Love never fails.

Love is being kind and gracious. It is showing mercy and compassion and forgiveness. Love is generous and gives freely. It is serving, helping others, seeing needs and meeting them. To love someone is to believe in them and to hold them accountable to what they can be. It is both to accept them as they are and to challenge them to continue to grow. Love is speaking the truth, but doing so kindly, gently, and with respect. Love is pure and right, love is messy and real.

And ultimately, love is from God...and love is God.

1 John 4:7 says, "Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. "

1 John 4:15-16 says, "If anyone confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and He in God. And we have come to know and believe the love that God has for us. God is love; whoever abides in love abides in God, and God in him."

One final verse. John 13:34 says, "A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so also you must love one another."

So what does my new sweatshirt mean to me. What does it look like to RADIATE LOVE? It is to take Jesus' words to heart and to love one another as He has loved us. It is a call to abide in Christ, that I might abide in love and share that love with the world. It is putting God's love at the very center of who I am, so that His love will radiate from within me. Not because I am so good or so awesome, so loving or nice all of the time. Far from it. But rather it is the love of Christ radiating, first to me and then through me. It is God's love shining through all of my imperfections and flaws to reveal His perfect love.

What might this practically look like today? It could be smiling at a stranger (I love smiling, smiling is my favorite!). It could be letting someone go in front of you in the grocery store line, or speaking a compliment out loud. It could be making a homemade treat for your neighbors and delivering them with your kids. It could be donating a coat to a homeless ministry. It could be speaking life and encouragement into your children, telling them how you see them growing and pointing out the strengths you see in them. It could be texting a friend to tell them that they are on your mind and that you are thinking of them. Maybe it is as simple as cleaning the kitchen with a joyful heart to serve others. It could be laughing together with your spouse, spending intentional time pursuing the heart of the partner God gave you. Or leaving a little gift on a friend's porch. The opportunities are endless.

So thank you Target. Thank you for your lure of coffee and toys and clothes to make my grocery errand a little easier and more enjoyable some days. Thank you for offering me a cute and cozy sweatshirt that reminds me to live for something bigger and deeper than myself today. For the reminder to Radiate Love. For the reminder that to shine love, I must first know love. And that love is named Jesus.