Love. Little word, large committment. The world tells us if you aren't being appreciated, "walk away. You're worth more than that." They say that if the relationship isn't equal, then "someone isn't giving enough. Walk away." The advice goes on and on....
BUT, then I read something else. "Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other (another translation says, "Make allowances for each other."), and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you." I read some more: "Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."
Let me just clarify that this does not mean God intends for you to stay with an abusive person, etc. God loves you and doesn't want you to be harmed. But it is one thing to be harmed and another thing to have your feelings hurt. Loving someone who doesn't give you what you want or what you think you need...well, it just really stinks. If others' treatment of us doesn't match our expectations, we wallow. We start to try to emotionally distance ourselves from the other person. We may even start to feel resentful and just a little bit bitter.
Most people give up right here when it comes to showing real love to people. Right smack in the middle of the worst of feelings. Why should we have to love people who don't meet our needs? Why would a God who loves us ask to do such a difficult thing, when the rest of the world counsels us to get out now?
I think the answer to this is found in something else I've read recently: "For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all." "So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers." God asks some difficult things of us, but it is absolutely nothing compared to the giant sacrifice made by His son, and by millions of martyrs around the world. Loving without getting love back hurts, but we are still called to love.
You know, maybe we should start spreading that love out a little...stop making it available just for a select few. There are so many people in our communities starving for it, aching for it...those who have been abused, abandoned, and rejected. So, Macy and Micah, start looking for people who really NEED the love you have to give, and you will never regret having given it.
