Sometimes loving does not come easy to me. And sometimes it seems like the most natural thing in the world.
When I see something my daughter would love, I pick it up because I love her
When I am snuggling with a muffin in Haiti or really anywhere else in the world… easy.
When I am in Detroit cooking potatoes and frosting cupcakes… easy peasy.
On the contrary, when people are rude, aggressive, and hostile… it’s hard.
When someone gets mad because I didn’t serve them Kool aid fast enough it’s difficult to say “I’m sorry” and say “really, you’re mad because I gave you kool aid at 5:01 instead of 5:00”.
Or when I’m serving an amazing meal and someone complains that the salsa isn’t hot enough… ugh
Or when someone is just a flat out bully and a jerk. It’s hard to love.
I want to love them but sometimes I just feel so wired to… fight.
I actually hate fighting even though it might seem to come so natural. Yuck.
I really strive to choose love, and to choose it always, even though sometimes I fail. Thankfully I subscribe to the fall down 7 get up 8 mentality. And while I don’t like to have to say “I’m sorry for being a jerk” I am not afraid to do it. Maybe I share too much about how I try to succeed, but sometimes I feel like I felt like things came so easy for others and not for me, and then I felt like even more of a failure.
We don’t TRY to be more like Jesus, we STRIVE for it. It is not something we do once and if we aren’t successful, we give up, we do it over and over until we get it righter and righter.
I can’t help the way other people behave. I can tell them that I find it unacceptable and tell them what I will accept, love.
I can choose to take the narrow path. I can choose not to be hurt and angry (though sometimes that is REALLY REALLY HARD!!!)
Maybe if the world saw our struggles and how we overcame them, they would see the power of Jesus in our lives and want more of Him, and less of the yuck that the world has to offer.
Until we figure out how not to hurt each other, we must always err on the side of grace, and choose love.
I don’t always know how to get the right answer.
But I know what it is.
Love.
Love = Jesus
Gal 6:7-10 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
1 John 4:4-21 7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
When I see something my daughter would love, I pick it up because I love her
When I am snuggling with a muffin in Haiti or really anywhere else in the world… easy.
When I am in Detroit cooking potatoes and frosting cupcakes… easy peasy.
On the contrary, when people are rude, aggressive, and hostile… it’s hard.
When someone gets mad because I didn’t serve them Kool aid fast enough it’s difficult to say “I’m sorry” and say “really, you’re mad because I gave you kool aid at 5:01 instead of 5:00”.
Or when I’m serving an amazing meal and someone complains that the salsa isn’t hot enough… ugh
Or when someone is just a flat out bully and a jerk. It’s hard to love.
I want to love them but sometimes I just feel so wired to… fight.
I actually hate fighting even though it might seem to come so natural. Yuck.
I really strive to choose love, and to choose it always, even though sometimes I fail. Thankfully I subscribe to the fall down 7 get up 8 mentality. And while I don’t like to have to say “I’m sorry for being a jerk” I am not afraid to do it. Maybe I share too much about how I try to succeed, but sometimes I feel like I felt like things came so easy for others and not for me, and then I felt like even more of a failure.
We don’t TRY to be more like Jesus, we STRIVE for it. It is not something we do once and if we aren’t successful, we give up, we do it over and over until we get it righter and righter.
I can’t help the way other people behave. I can tell them that I find it unacceptable and tell them what I will accept, love.
I can choose to take the narrow path. I can choose not to be hurt and angry (though sometimes that is REALLY REALLY HARD!!!)
Maybe if the world saw our struggles and how we overcame them, they would see the power of Jesus in our lives and want more of Him, and less of the yuck that the world has to offer.
Until we figure out how not to hurt each other, we must always err on the side of grace, and choose love.
I don’t always know how to get the right answer.
But I know what it is.
Love.
Love = Jesus
Gal 6:7-10 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
1 John 4:4-21 7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
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