Today I’m writing this with a great friend. Together we have
been chatting and thinking about who we want to be, and how we can be love (the
verb) to each other and those around us.
Over the past few months, we have come to the conclusion
that some people are VERY easy to love. Especially when you like them. We have
also come to the conclusion that some people are hard to love, but often they’re
the ones who need it our love most. They’re the ones we can choose to love
intentionally. This is no mean feat, trust us. In those moments when all you
want to do is snap at your parents, ignore the weird man asking for money, and
escape from those who know exactly how to push your buttons, there is the opportunity
to choose to honour, love and respect.
We live in a world full of people trying to impress others. We
are so bothered about what the next person is doing in comparison with us. Are
they better than us? Are they weirder than us? Am I cool? Am I funny? Where do
I fit into this group? All of these questions; whether consciously or unconsciously
thought, encircle our brains for a good percentage of the time.
And if you are odd, or strange, or wacky, or if you’re an
average Joe or a conventional Margaret, God sees you, and he knows you. He’s
MORE than ok with you, with your personality, your looks, and he says YES to
you!
So, we want to be people that accept you for you. We don’t want
to make you feel awkward in social settings, we don’t want to make you feel
like what you said wasn’t good enough, we don’t want you to feel like you’re “out”,
and we’re “in”. We want to be inclusive NOT exclusive. We’re not seeking to be
cool, we’re seeking to love.
Here are some things that we want to see in our friendship
circles and beyond. We want to create this culture- where we feel good enough,
chosen, and totally accepted- whomsoever we happen to be with.
We want to…
-lift others up, and not patronize them
-honour those who are difficult to love
-be approachable
-be non-judgmental in word and action
-make people feel worthy
- love people the way God would.
-create an atmosphere of total acceptance, where nothing’s
too weird, and nothing’s too wacky. It’s ok to be you, and wacky is good- but
if wacky isn’t you then that’s good too!
As a closing thought, we would like to mention a couple of
friends of ours here. This couple came to visit us a few weeks back. We were so
struck by the love they showed everyone they came into contact with. They were
accepting, non-judgmental, and honest, and it was so refreshing to be a
recipient of their hearts and actions! They inspired us to do the same. How
different would our worlds look, if we each loved indiscriminately? Maybe today
you might just be challenged to do the same.
Over and out :)
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