During my Thanksgiving break I was asking myself why is it hard for me to love others that do not respond or do not seem to care about me? I thought to myself probably because they are not encouraging me or giving me any affirmations of noticing my acts of love. This type of love I am describing of myself is NOT TRULY LOVE. In the bible, it says love is not self-seeking. I am obviously trying to seek something from others if I stop showing love due to their responses. This is an issue that I need to address and get help in. As a response to recognizing this selfishness of my own, I know that I need to change. The main source of my problem at these specific times is I am forgetting that I am always loved and accepted. I need to remind myself that I am constantly pursued by the greatest of all. God says, He is jealous for me, which is crazy!
I knew showing kindness to those that were mean to me was challenging. I never thought about loving others or even myself was something to be deemed as scary or even a sign of rebellion until recently. I rarely associate a rebel as someone participating in the action of love, but by definition it makes sense. A rebel is someone who goes against what most are doing. I do not hear, see, or experience too often about people loving others without thinking about themselves along the way. In addition, it never crossed my mind as much as it has lately that showing others' love is an act of COURAGE. Falling in love with anybody is a scary thing for me. Love is a choice and a risk. It is choosing to share oneself with another while taking a chance of possibly getting hurt along the way. Nothing of great value comes easy. Love takes effort. Sacrifice.
I always learn best when something I want to learn is modeled before me, or get to learn through experience. Fortunately, we all have a model we can follow. Our model loved others better than anybody noted in history. This model had all the reasons to be respected and worshipped, but he made the decision to live in a lowly manner. Say what?? He did not live with his best interest in mind; instead he lived with two things in mind, His father and his love for all of us. I am amazed that he loved selflessly to the point that he died for us, so that we could get to know His father while on earth and after our lives are over. He died in a way that displays how this incredible man lived and loved others- He died on a cross with open hands and arms- talk about a man of courage...who was not afraid of others' reactions or responses to his heart being COMPLETELY open and exposed. This man I am referring to his name is Jesus, and he gave us a gift of unconditional love that we cannot ever earn. This type of love created for us the opportunity to have a loving relationship with our God. It's definitely a lot to think about.
It's odd that when given the chance to receive gifts or acts of love from others we sometimes choose to reject them. Why would we be afraid of such a wonderful thing as personally experiencing love? As we all seek for the qualities that come from only love we continually turn one's back from the main source. Sounds not very smart to me. Yet, I do it still. Ughh...if I want to experience acceptance, love not based on performance, appreciation, being thought of, and pursued in getting to know...then I need to realize that this kind of love is not centered around me. Yes, I can experience a certain extent of this kind of love by people. BUT that is a lot of expectations to put on others who are struggling and figuring out life as well. So I think seeking God for the love that others cannot give me is the way to go :)
From this day forward I am going to continue to take babysteps in accepting that I am loved by the owner and God of everything I see. I will try to follow in his Son's footsteps even though I know that I will not equate to his abilities to love. I will not give up. At the same time I will SURRENDER to what he has done and is wanting to do in my life. I urge you all to do the same because the more space we give Him the more we all can see His work through us. We become a new creation when we do this because he gives us His spirit. He even sees us as a new creation. Through His perfect love we have hope, and do not have to be slaves to fear like we were before we surrendered to Him. I realize it is scary, but again I can promise you that it is well worth it! Let's push each other to love less safely.
I knew showing kindness to those that were mean to me was challenging. I never thought about loving others or even myself was something to be deemed as scary or even a sign of rebellion until recently. I rarely associate a rebel as someone participating in the action of love, but by definition it makes sense. A rebel is someone who goes against what most are doing. I do not hear, see, or experience too often about people loving others without thinking about themselves along the way. In addition, it never crossed my mind as much as it has lately that showing others' love is an act of COURAGE. Falling in love with anybody is a scary thing for me. Love is a choice and a risk. It is choosing to share oneself with another while taking a chance of possibly getting hurt along the way. Nothing of great value comes easy. Love takes effort. Sacrifice.
I always learn best when something I want to learn is modeled before me, or get to learn through experience. Fortunately, we all have a model we can follow. Our model loved others better than anybody noted in history. This model had all the reasons to be respected and worshipped, but he made the decision to live in a lowly manner. Say what?? He did not live with his best interest in mind; instead he lived with two things in mind, His father and his love for all of us. I am amazed that he loved selflessly to the point that he died for us, so that we could get to know His father while on earth and after our lives are over. He died in a way that displays how this incredible man lived and loved others- He died on a cross with open hands and arms- talk about a man of courage...who was not afraid of others' reactions or responses to his heart being COMPLETELY open and exposed. This man I am referring to his name is Jesus, and he gave us a gift of unconditional love that we cannot ever earn. This type of love created for us the opportunity to have a loving relationship with our God. It's definitely a lot to think about.
It's odd that when given the chance to receive gifts or acts of love from others we sometimes choose to reject them. Why would we be afraid of such a wonderful thing as personally experiencing love? As we all seek for the qualities that come from only love we continually turn one's back from the main source. Sounds not very smart to me. Yet, I do it still. Ughh...if I want to experience acceptance, love not based on performance, appreciation, being thought of, and pursued in getting to know...then I need to realize that this kind of love is not centered around me. Yes, I can experience a certain extent of this kind of love by people. BUT that is a lot of expectations to put on others who are struggling and figuring out life as well. So I think seeking God for the love that others cannot give me is the way to go :)
From this day forward I am going to continue to take babysteps in accepting that I am loved by the owner and God of everything I see. I will try to follow in his Son's footsteps even though I know that I will not equate to his abilities to love. I will not give up. At the same time I will SURRENDER to what he has done and is wanting to do in my life. I urge you all to do the same because the more space we give Him the more we all can see His work through us. We become a new creation when we do this because he gives us His spirit. He even sees us as a new creation. Through His perfect love we have hope, and do not have to be slaves to fear like we were before we surrendered to Him. I realize it is scary, but again I can promise you that it is well worth it! Let's push each other to love less safely.