Lessons in Love Part 2

As I said in my other post, God has been reteaching me what love is.
There have been several times this summer where God has not only shown me what real love is, He has also given me opportunities to put what I am learning into practice myself.

One instance of this has been with someone that I do not particularly like, but seems to keep coming across my path. Isn't it funny how the harder you try to avoid someone, the more God seems to put them in your path?

I have been able to comfort this person in several instances. I will be honest, I would never have chosen to do this, but God has a way of convincing people to do things that they really need to do.

To be able to see people the way God does is humbling and doesn't happen often. It did in this instance. I realized just how hard I am on this person. They are human and made in God's image. God has great plans for them. Just because they look okay, doesn't mean they are.

It really showed me how I need to work on my heart attitude. I love people, but love is not selective. It is unbiased and all including.

I also had opportunities to work with children in many different scenarios this summer. Children have some of the biggest hearts! They trust so easily and love seemingly unconditionally. Being human, I cannot ever trust that easily; I have seen too much, but if I could love half that much, I could change the world!

God has placed so many people in my life to teach me what real love is and to let me put into practice what I am learning. This is not so I can go out and date or become a super love woman, but so I can molded into the woman God wants me to be.

How awesome to see God care about a gal like me enough to show me just how all consuming and precious genuine and real love can be!

"Love" is often associated with 1 Corinthians 13 and that is okay, but I think the concept is lost in our world. 1 Corinthians 13 is used so much that it has become cliché. 1 Corinthians 13 tells what love DOES, not what love IS. We say it without truly thinking about it.

Mark 12:31 tells what love is. It is "loving your neighbor as you love yourself." As I mentioned before, I had to learn that you cannot love others if you do not love yourself. I have been told that throughout my life, but it really came alive for me when I heard a sermon that addressed this issue.

Love isn't just some feeling. It isn't something that should be taken lightly. It deserves respect and to be treasured.

People throw the term, "I love you" around all the time, but I was so challenged this summer to not just say that, but to mean it. Yes, you should say it often, but you also should mean it. It's like saying, "I like your dress" but not really meaning it. It looses its significance.

It has been a very eventful and busy summer. As it is coming to a close, I find myself looking back in gratitude at all the things God has taught me. You never stop learning. I have a feeling that I have barely even begun to grasp the true expanse of what "love" is, but it is a start.

Above all else, I have learned that no one can love you as rightly or deeply as God can. He died for me! What higher act of love could I ask for?

God is the Creator and Author of love. He is the definition of love. He is the only true fulfiller of the love I so long for and desire.

May I take what I have and am learning and go and love others now. They will know that I am a Christian by my love, after all!