Let Live part 3
The only way to truly be able to connect with someone... to love them with a true agape love... is to let people be who they are. If you're trying to change somebody--listen, I've heard this a lot in the "Church world" and I sure don't like it. People always say, "God loves you just the way you are, but He loves you too much to leave you that way." I agree with the first part whole heartedly. God loves you just the way you are. One hundred percent. And since God sees you the way you really are, He's able to say, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." He sees the true you. Jesus. God in the flesh. Love in the body. He sees Himself in you. Because He see you in Himself. Christ in you the hope of glory. So this idea that God has to change you in order to--what? Love you more? I don't really know--this idea that God has to change you, to me, is just flat out wrong. Because that implies that there is something wrong with you. Listen to me: There is nothing wrong with you. You are exactly who you are supposed to be. You were fearfully and wonderfully made. God made you specifically you. And anybody who doesn't accept you for who you are... anybody who needs to change you in order to "love" you... doesn't understand what love is. Because love doesn't demand its (HIS) own way. Love is unconditional. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. Nothing you've done, and nothing you're going to do. But what we do is we fall out all the time. Over stuff that is really unimportant. I still remember when my stepmom (my OTHER mom, because she's legit) was teaching one of my classes at Bible College and she said, "When you start to get angry, think about whether it will even matter a year from now." Point being, some things plain straight aren't worth your anger. Some things aren't worth your time or effort. We let things (and people) live in our brains rent free and they don't need to be there. We let things control us that have no power except the power we give them. Let me say it the way I usually say, "Check yourself before you wreck yourself." And in this case, I'm trying to say, "Check what's going on before you let it wreck you." Another one of my fortune cookie pearls of wisdom goes like this, "When I can't do anything about something, I find it best not to do anything about it." Because sometimes, even with good intentions, we make things worse. We think we know best. And, listen, when it comes to me raising my son... I'm the one who is responsible for him. The buck stops here. But unless you're the parent of a young child, you're not in charge of other people. And, really, you can't MAKE people do... anything really. So the best thing you can do is live and let live. And by "live" I mean love. And by "let live" I mean let people be who they are. Love people no matter what. Don't try to change people. True change comes from within, not from without. And no matter how much you want someone to change... people are going to be who they are whether you want them to or not. So in order to be in relationship with someone, you can't demand your own way, and you can't demand people BE a certain way. You have to give and take. Compromise. And most of all, you have to love.