For anyone who says love is easy, I'm going to assume you are either not offering REAL love or you are young and don't know any better. I have fallen into both categories in my 30 years. However, with age hopefully comes wisdom and new perspectives. But what is love exactly? Lauryn Hill (pre- Jamaican baby daddy) told us, but how many really took the time to listen to the lyrics or refer back to the original text of the song? "Let me patient. Let me be kind. Make me unselfish without being blind. Though I may suffer, I'll envy it not. And endure what comes cause He's all that I got." She was laying out the definition of love. Otherwise found in 1 Corinthians 13 and is the following: patient, kind, does not envy or boast, is not proud, is not rude, is not self-seeking (apparently no reality tv show exhibits love), is not easily angered, keeps no records of wrongs (yep it forgives!), does not delight in evil (most blogs would fail the test right here), rejoices at the truth (maybe Maury's mission is love - You are NOT the father), always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres, and lastly, it NEVER FAILS! Over the past few months, I've tried to use the above criteria as a sort of litmus test to see if I'm acting in true love at all times. Most of us get about 25% of that list correct on a daily basis and on some Sundays and Christmas we might even get 50% of it right. The greatest of the commandments are boiled down to one word: L-O-V-E. It's really that simple. Don't believe me? Let's see...
If you operate in true love you can easily overlook the offense of another because you understand that their actions may be motivated by something internal that has nothing to do with you. When a person is dealt a blow in life you aren't joyful because of it, rather you try to help them back up. When you see injustice and deception being promoted and lived out around you, you do your best to inject the truth. When you have a really rough period of life and you can't see a better day coming, you keep hope and faith that even though you can't SEE it, you KNOW it's coming (I don't see oxygen but I KNOW I breath it.). When someone you are supposed to love is being an obnoxious crawdad making it hard to even like them, you be patient with them cause you know all they need is a little understanding. When disagreements happen, you aren't too prideful to admit you are wrong or work towards a resolution because you know that a prideful heart will get you the very thing you don't want. I could go on and on. Trust me I could.
Yes, I've learned that we are to love everyone, not just the cute fun people in our lives who always agree with us. So the next time you toss about the word love, make sure you are willing to uphold those qualities because without them, you are just in strong liking. Now, I admit it's a lot of work to do this love thing and we are generally a society of lazy narcissist, but just as with any other muscle, the more you work it the stronger it'll get! Love you dolls!!!
1 comment:
You are so right...it ain't easy. I used to think it was easier than it is, but true love, unconditional love, the God kind of love requires effort...a real willingness. When it 'seems' hard to do I think of how I would want to be treated if I were in the other person's shoes. What would I want? The answer has been resoundingly the same, I'd want unconditional love. Humph...love without conditions. Wow, that's some kind of love. I'm thankful that every day I'm the recipient of that kind of love. But, I must be a distributor of the same. Learning to always do unto others as I'd have them do unto me. Work in progress.
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