Inheritance part 5
One of the biggest misconceptions I see, especially in this holiday season, is that people think they can give you a gift and also control what you do with it. When the straight truth is: Once you give it... it's gone. It's out of your hands. Out of your control. You don't give someone something in order to assert control over them. You don't give someone something and then get upset with how they use it or what they do with it. That's not how it works. Now let me show you how I believe it's supposed to be. "I will glady spend myself and all I have for you, even though it seems that the more I love you, the less you love me" (2 Corinthians 12:15 NLT). My personal definiton of love. Giving everything you have and everything you are. No matter what happens next. Not worrying about what happens next. Doing your part and letting that be enough. So, by now you might be wondering what that has to do with our inheritance. Why I said all that to close out this Rant series. And here it is: God has given you His love. That is your inheritance. What you do with it is up to you. 1 John 4:11 says, "Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another." But "ought to," quite frankly, doesn't mean "have to." God doesn't punish people. He chastens and corrects people. He doesn't want us to go the wrong way... but He doesn't force us to go the right way. You have a measure of free will in this life. You can do what you want to do. You shouldn't feel obligated. To do anything. Owe no man anything but love, right? And even in that... do it because it's in your heart to do it. Don't do it because you think you're "supposed" to. I think people can tell what's real and what's not. I think people are desperate for what's real. We want so badly to have that connection with people. The real thing. A deep bond that means something. Because it means everything. I always say the little things ARE the big things. Because the little things are the day to day things that get us through the day. Letting someone know you care. Letting someone know you're thinking about them. Giving someone an ear when they need to talk. Or a shoulder when they need to cry. Just being there for people. Love is spelled T-I-M-E, right? And while we do have an infinite supply of love, we don't have an infinite amount of time. How we choose to spend the time we have is the most important choice we can make. Mother Teresa said, "If you want to change the world, go home and love your family." Touch the people you can touch. I'm not for everybody. I know that. I've accepted it. So instead of banging my head against the wall (and only ending up with a headache), I choose to pour into those people who I AM for. I choose to give everything I have and everything I am to the people in my life. There are enough people that I can love in my life already that I don't need to look for more. Or try to reach people that aren't for me. My inheritance is that I am blessed... to be a blessing. Filled... so that I can empty myself out. I don't have to control anything or anybody. I can simply experience what I've got by giving it away. By sharing it. By letting what's inside come out... by knowing and believing that it's in there. Love doesn't demand its (HIS) own way. Love simply gives what it has. Who it is!