Over the past year or so I have really had a lot of light bulb moments, or ah-ha moments. This is a direct result of many, MANY meditations, prayers, quiet moments, readings and listening to others...well, and the occasional 'near car wreck'. Just sayin'. I went to a wedding last night and the gentleman who spoke read 1 Cor. 13 that is often read, "Love is patient, love is kind..." etc. I have always loved that scripture. In some of my readings and quiet moments it has occurred to me that love simply is. It just is.
What do I mean by that? Probably many of you are going "Duh, Beck, you are just now figuring this out?" What I mean by that is that there is an overwhelming sense of peace when you finally figure out that love can't be bought, earned, withheld, or bargained. If it is, it isn't love. Love can't be beaten into someone, forced, begged for, or kept away. Love is. It simply is. I do realize there are different kinds of love, but what I'm talking about is the love that God breathes in us when we are brought to this earth. We have some strange ways of being raised (not me in particular, but I see this in kids a lot) in that if we mess up, we won't be loved. If we say the wrong thing, do the wrong thing, can't prove ourselves worthy, don't look right, eat right, speak correctly, we won't be loved. It is really heart-breaking when you think about this horrifically warped sense of thinking because love just is. It IS. We don't have to earn it, it's there. It's here. God surrounds us with it and we don't have to go blindly through the maze of getting it all "right" to get our love sticker at the end. We HAVE it! Unconditionally!
Love is. God breathed love into us. I don't know about you but it is a relief to me to know that I don't have to go around proving myself worthy to be loved. Isn't it nice to know that when we make mistakes we just begin again and try to do better because we have faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of these IS love? I don't have to put expectations on myself or anyone else to love them. That only defines me, not them. By the way, the person that drives you totally nuts? The one that cut you off in traffic on your way to church this morning? The one that got the promotion instead of you? God loves them, too.
Allowing yourself to be loved means that you stop judging yourself. You stop judging others. You begin to see others the way that God sees them. You say, "Wait just a damn minute, now! That means I have to forgive him/her for offending me 23 years ago!" Yep, you do. That doesn't mean you become a door mat or put yourself in someone's wrathful path, it means you let go. You let go of anger, pain, the past. You surround yourself with God and His light and love and you realize how many times He has forgiven you. You pray to see others the way He sees them and you realize there is no room for anything but love. A certain peace begins to settle in and you crave it with every fiber of your being. You crave for everyone in your life to feel this peace, this overwhelming love that God brings. It is an experience. It isn't a book or lecture or blog. It's an experience....It's an ah-ha moment, a light bulb moment. Thank you for letting me share mine.
LOVE,
Becky :)
June 23, 2013
No comments:
Post a Comment