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Abide. 

Jesus uses that word a lot in John.  So, let us abide in the word.  When have you ever abided?

What have you tolerated?

Where have you rested?

Where have you continued?

What have you accepted without objection?  (All of these questions come from Merriam-Webster's definition list.)

How have you abided with Jesus in any of those places?  How has the grace and love of God in Jesus Christ empowered you to continue, to rest, to tolerate, to accept?

As Jesus abides in the Father, so we are called to abide in him.  Notice that doesn't JUST mean a place to "hole up" or "hide away."  It is also the power to go and interact with others who are different from you lovingly and graciously.

It is the gift of knowing that God's love isn't a place, but a Way, a Truth, a Life. That Christ is with us, always, and the gift of the Holy Spirit continues to confer upon us love and grace, bread for the journey, shelter from the storm, strength for the task, wisdom for the moment, new life to rise again.

So how may you abide in the love and grace of Jesus this week?  How might that cause others to see the abiding love of God made flesh in the world?