You are LOVED!

I have recently been reflective of how important it is for us to know that we have a place of acceptance and love.  All throughout life we are faced with different peer/societal pressures to do things so that others will accept us.  From the time we are children ostracizing other children so that we can be viewed as 'cool' up until we become adults and are led to believe that we are defined (and often confined) by how much money we make/have, where we live, what we do, who we marry, etc..  

The pull to belong and be loved is well documented and this desire has driven people to do some pretty awful things.  So why is it soo hard for people to freely show love to others?  I submit the following reasons (there are many more):

• Love was not shown in their home
• Loving people suggests you have to be vulnerable AND WEAK
• We have been hurt and the fear of being hurt again coupled with resentment will not allow us to come out of the cave we call safety
• We want others to feel bad or get REVENGE
• We do not want to waste our energy and take the risk because, "they have done this before"
• We get bad advice from someone else
• You add yours...

The inherit tragedy I see in these situations is that as we build walls to not let emotions out, we also keep love from coming in.  By always being on the defensive believing that others are not deserving or are out to get you can lead to us jumping to early conclusions and missing the true reason why people are showing love.  Of course there are people who are disingenuous but there are others who are genuine in there love for you.  I have found that it takes less energy and stress to simply be kind/loving and not worry about whether the individual is able to accept or appreciate the kindness/gift.  Does it bother me at times when people reject my gift, of course it does but that does not prevent me from continuing to try and be consistent regardless of their reactions.

I tell myself that I AM RESPONSIBLE FOR MY CHOICES no matter what is provoking me.  I can assure you, I have been provoked!  When I get sobered up from my pity party, I realize that I too have provoked others, including my Lord.

He showed me love knowing full well that I would not be worthy of this gift and would throw it away on MANY occasions.  The more I reflect on His sacrifice the more I want to encourage others to try Him so they too can know they belong and are loved.  All they have to do is accept and open the gift, will you open the gift and at other times be the gift?  For you are loved!

I John 3:1 (NIV84) "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him."

Blessings,
-d