The beginning of a new year is a natural time for reflection and for taking the time to look back and remember. And as I have done so over the past few days what has really stood out to me is the incredible love that I have been shown, not only in this past year but throughout my life.

To be sure, the pinnacle of love and the very way that love is defined is God himself. God is love and love is God and we will never know a stronger, more pure or more powerful love than the love we will experience in him. But before we can get to the place where we can understand God’s love it is enormously beneficial to have seen and experienced real love from those people who are most influential in our lives.

I know I would not be where I am today if it were not for my amazing parents. I surely did not understand or appreciate the value of their encouragement, protection, support, teaching and stability while I was being raised but I can feel it strongly now as an adult. They modeled an incredible, sacrificial love in how they brought up their two sons but they also set the pattern for how I would love my spouse in the way that they loved each other.

Besides my parents, I know I have been shown and taught love by various teachers, mentors and friends throughout my life. To be sure, they also had a large influence on who I am today and in teaching me what real love looks like.

I wonder how my life would be different and how my relationships would be different if I had not been so blessed. Who would I be today and how much worse off would I be if I had not been so loved? And most importantly, would I have been able to accept God’s love if I had never known real love before?

These are questions worth asking even if the only result is that my gratitude and appreciation is increased for the blessings that I have received. Even more so if they challenge me to take a look at my understanding of love and my relationship with God and with those people that God has placed into my life.

Because I have been so loved I have a strong and enduring responsibility to show love. Because I have been so blessed I have a responsibility to bless others. Because God’s love has been poured out in my heart I have a responsibility to pour that love on others and to consistently express my gratitude to my heavenly father.

And so do you. If you know God and have been so loved and so blessed then your responsibility is the same. God has called us to be ambassadors of his love and to teach it and model it with the things we do and the things we say. The same way that we have learned love we must teach to others, according to God’s word and the leading of his Holy Spirit.